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The Child-Angel

It is our blessing that her lot was fair—
The precious birthright of the dew and air,
The green and shade of woods, the song of birds,
And dreams too bright for words—
All that makes moonlight for the innocent heart,
And love, that, in its bud, is still its crowning part.

The sadness of the spring-time in the shade
Of dusk—the shadows of the night array'd,
By stars in the great forests, as they look,
Glistening, as from a brook;
And stillness in the gloom, that seems a sound,
Breathed up, unconscious, out from nature's great profound.

A Sister's Love

When o'er my dark and wayward soul
The clouds of nameless Sorrow roll;
When Hope no more her wreath will twine
And Memory sits at Sorrow's shrine;
Nor aught to joy my soul can move
I muse upon a Sister's Love.

When tired with study's graver toil
I pant for sweet Affection's smile,
And rich with restless hopes of fame,
Would half forgo the panting aim
I drop the book,—and thought will rove,
To greet a Sister's priceless Love.

When all the world seems cold and stern,
And bids the bosom vainly yearn;
When Woman's heart is lightly changed,

He Never Will Forget

Jesus never will forget me,
When I'm young, or when I'm old.
With His precious blood He bought me;
So, you see, to Him I'm sold.

He could not forget His loved ones,
Who to Him are very dear;
Resting in His loving bosom
I have not a single fear.

In His hands my name is written,
In His heart He thinks of me;
And He'll soon come back to take me
Where with Him I'll always be.

He, Himself, appears as bail

He, Himself, appears as bail
when I am taken before the court,
and He teaches me to be obedient
and to live in His light.
Art merely puffs up, love constructs,
all comes to naught unless God's Bride
rules in a royal way. O Love! O love!
Lead us with thee by thy hand,
by thy bands of love, for false
love misguides! Amen!
Alexander Mack.

53. On Claudia Rufina

Though from the painted Britons Claudia came,
Her noble soul befits the Roman race,
Her kinship dames of Italy might claim,
Greeks laud her beauty; and by heaven's grace
Offspring she hath, so ere her lovely face
Hath lost its youth, they too shall wed, and she
Loving her lord, in him shall ever place
Her trust, rejoicing in her children three.

A Second Place

I WOULD, indeed, that Heaven had made me meek,
Content to hold and fill a second place,
Take lesser love as undeservèd grace,
And bow my thankful head when one should speak
Me gently, touch with careless hand my cheek,
Or bend sometimes and kiss my unpraised face,
Since she, forsooth, is in her far-off place
For whom his highest homage seemed too weak.

But I was made with passionate, strong soul,
And what I would, I would have wholly mine;
And if I bow my head to Love's control,
And to his keeping all myself consign,