GETHSEMANE
Ye proud nobility who walk the earth
In unconcern, where every form of want,
Of sin and crime and hunger grim and gaunt
Stand specter-like beside the poor man's hearth,
And rob humanity of joy and mirth,
Where God's free sunlight never deigns to slant
Across the floor of dens where demons haunt
The human soul—O put aside your birth,
Your heritage of ease, and for one day
Come forth with me to life's Gethsemane to pray;
Take all this heavy load, the whole world's rue
Upon yourselves, as Jesus did of old,—
Then be your hearts like icebergs frigid cold,
They needs must melt with pity through and through.
In unconcern, where every form of want,
Of sin and crime and hunger grim and gaunt
Stand specter-like beside the poor man's hearth,
And rob humanity of joy and mirth,
Where God's free sunlight never deigns to slant
Across the floor of dens where demons haunt
The human soul—O put aside your birth,
Your heritage of ease, and for one day
Come forth with me to life's Gethsemane to pray;
Take all this heavy load, the whole world's rue
Upon yourselves, as Jesus did of old,—
Then be your hearts like icebergs frigid cold,
They needs must melt with pity through and through.
THE HIDDEN LIFE
Deep down beneath the billows' angry sweep,
Beyond the fury of the raging sea,
There is a world of silent mystery;
There coral mountains lift their hoary heads,
Where sea shells lie in glowing amber beds,
And all is wrapped in deep eternal sleep.
Beyond the fury of the raging sea,
There is a world of silent mystery;
There coral mountains lift their hoary heads,
Where sea shells lie in glowing amber beds,
And all is wrapped in deep eternal sleep.
184
