Classic Poem

With echoing step the worshippers
Departed one by one;
The organ's pealing voice was stilled,
The vesper hymn was done;
The shadows fell from roof and arch,
Dim was the incensed air,
One lamp alone with trembling ray,
Told of the Presence there!

In the dark church she knelt alone;
Her tears were falling fast;
" Help, Lord, " she cried, " the shades of death
Upon my soul are cast!
Have I not shunned the path of sin
And chosen the better part? "
What voice came through the sacred air?
" My child, give me thy heart!

" For I have loved thee with a love
No mortal heart can show;
A love so deep, My Saints in Heaven
Its depths can never know:
When pierced and wounded on the Cross,
Man's sin and doom were Mine,
I loved thee with undying love;
Immortal and divine. "

In awe she listened and the shade
Passed from her soul away;
In low and trembling voice she cried,
" Lord, help me to obey!
Break Thou the chains of earth, O Lord,
That bind and hold my heart;
Let it be Thine and Thine alone,
Let none with Thee have part! "