Classic Poem

I.

" They came o'er the Eastern Sea;
None had ever seen its shore;
And living things,
With grand white wings,
Those white-limbed strangers bore.

" White wings on the purple sea,
Like the white-winged clouds o'er-head.
We said, " They come
From the far-off Home,
Where rest our happy dead.

" " They know of the far white hills
Where our beloved go,
Cleansing their souls
Where the thunder rolls
O'er the fields of ice and snow!

" " They come from the sunlit shore
Where our beloved rest;
Where they rest in light
All pure and white,
'Neath the morning's golden breast."

" They landed on our isle,
Our reverent trust they won,
This Royal Race
From the Dawn's own place,
These Children of the Sun.

" Like lightnings flashed their swords;
They held the winds their slaves;
The thunders raged,
In their sea-towers caged;
They rode on the foaming waves.

" We saw they were strong and wise,
We thought they were good and true;
We said, " They will tell
Where our lost ones dwell,"
For we thought they all things knew.

" They saw how we yearned for our dead;
They answered grave and slow: —
" Trust us; we come
From that far-off home;
With us to your Dead ye shall go."

" We climbed their dread sea-towers,
For we trusted the words they said;
We feared not the thunder,
Caged, sullen, under;
For we went to rejoin our dead.

" Singing and glad we went,
Those treacherous billows o'er,
To those unknown strands,
For a clasp of the hands
We had feared to clasp no more;

" For a sound of the well-known voice
We had feared not to hear again:
For we thought, " Even thus
They are watching for us,
Watching across the main.

" " Will they meet us one by one,
On lonely cliff or shore,
Or with flowers and song
In a festive throng,
To part from us never more?"

" So, singing and glad we went,
Trusting, across the main,
Till we reached the strand,
Where they drove us to land
With laughter, and lash, and chain.

" For the welcomes of our beloved,
The stranger's stripes and jeers;
For the promised Home,
The slave's dark doom,
And toil without time for tears.

" But they will not bind us long;
We are breaking their fetters fast;
No chains can keep
From that long, safe sleep,
Where we join our Dead at last "

II.

Oh, Thou who camest from far,
From the shores none living know
And over the sea
Biddest us with Thee
To our beloved go;

Not Thine the thunder sign;
Silent Thou trodd'st the wave,
Hushing its strife;
But Thy touch was life,
Death was Thy fettered slave.

His Sea grew a crystal Floor,
When Thou saidst, " Its shore I know;
Trust Me: I come
From that far-off Home;
Follow Me, — to your dead ye shall go. "

Thousands obeyed Thy call,
Left all for Thee, content;
Through fire and sword,
Trusting Thy word,
Singing and glad they went.

What feverish dream of doubt,
What terror of hearts death-cold,
Has raved that from Thee
Such wrong could be
As this base wrong of old!

God, by Thy goodness proved,
Infinite by Thine Heart;
The deeds Thou hast done
A world have won;
We trust Thee for what Thou art!

Little Thy lips have said
Of that mysterious shore;
But we seek not a Place,
We seek Thy face,
And we crave to know no more.

Thou hast promised no stormless course,
Yet singing and glad we go;
Faithful and True
Thou wilt bring us through;
If not, Thou hadst told us so.