Father, I bring before Thy throne
A heart more dear to me than mine;
O! watch it with Thine eyes benign,
And take it, gently, for Thine own.
What there Thine eyes condemn, remove,
But not by purifying pains,-
Thy smile can cleanse the deepest stains,
And sin is melted in Thy love.
Pour in Thy light, Thy hope, Thy grace,
I would not have one shadow stay;
But when the whole is perfect day
Joy shall beseem so pure a place.
Glance lightly, arrows of the foe,
Glance lightly from a breast that wears
The buckler of a thousand prayers,-
Ye have no power to work it woe!
Across this heart, Time, softly pass,
As a stream flows and leaves no print,
Save fresher air and tenderer tint,
And lilies shining through the grass.
Be life a dome of leaves and dew
Through which far heaven is faintly seen,
And yet so lovely is the screen,
We scarce can wish a nearer view.
Ah, friend, how vain! Ev’n while I plead,
Perhaps thy doom is on its way;
The very moment of the day
Is fix’d on which thy heart must bleed.
I cannot bar the coming ill,
I can but fling my prayers above
To that Inexorable Love
Which hears, and works Its perfect will.
To It I trust thee! Let me stand
Beside thee through the painful years,
And give some comfort with my tears,
Though but the pressure of a hand.
(Menella Bute Smedley)
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