Poems (Emma M. Ballard Bell)/Faith, Hope, and Charity
FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITV
Methought I once upon a summer ev'nWas seated on a verdant, flow'ry plain;When lo! three lovely beings glided by.With rapture on their faces did I gaze,With heav'nly beauty stamped. Upon their browsWere silver coronets, whereon was traced,In characters divine, the name of each.Faith, Hope, and Charity, sweet sisters three,Were they who to my raptured vision nowAppeared, encircled all with holy light. Then Faith, the eldest of the trio, said,"I come, O child of earth! to bless mankind.When all around is dark, and sadness castsIts gloomy mantle o'er the souls of men,When joy's last sunny ray has fled the soul,And even Hope's bright eye is dimmed with tears,Oh, then I bid desponding souls look up,And wait, believing, till God's hand shall partThe clouds of sorrow in His own good time." Then Hope—with voice like music-chimes of bellsO'er placid waters borne at eventide:—"Through all the mazes of earth's wilderness I light man's checkered pathway. When at lastLife's race is nobly run, and earthly scenesDepart, I point him onward to a worldOf blissful immortality beyond." She ceased, and Charity, with voice unlikeThe buoyant tones of her bright sister Hope,With thrilling cadence spoke harmonious,Like sweetest seraph strains from heaven-land:— "My gentle scepter silently I swayO'er those who bid me dwell within their hearts.'Neath my sweet influence man's soul grows strongTo bear with cheerfulness life's daily cross.The hearts of men with Love's enduring chainI gently bind, thus linking earth to heav'n." "Oh, then," I said, when Charity had ceased,"Sweet beings, come and dwell with me, and beMy guardian angels. Then, whate'er betide,Though earthly friends depart, and cherished hopesForever fade away, I shall be blest."