Franklin Benjamin Sanborn (1831–1917)

“O maiden! come into port bravely, or sail with God the seas.”

WITH joys unknown, with sadness unconfessed,

The generous heart accepts the passing year,

Finds duties dear, and labor sweet as rest,

And for itself knows neither care nor fear.

Fresh as the morning, earnest as the hour

That calls the noisy world to grateful sleep,

Our silent thought reveres the nameless power

That high seclusion round thy life doth keep:

So feigned the poets, did Diana love

To smile upon her darlings while they slept;

Serene, untouched, and walking far above

The narrow ways wherein the many crept,

Along her lonely path of luminous air

She glided, of her brightness unaware.

Yet if they said she heeded not the hymn

Of shepherds gazing heavenward from the moor;

Or homeward sailors, when the waters dim

Flashed with long splendors, widening toward the shore;

Nor wondering eyes of children cared to see;

Or glowing face of happy lover, upturned,

As late he wended from the trysting-tree,

Lit by the kindly lamp in heaven that burned;

And heard unmoved the prayer of wakeful pain,

Or consecrated maiden’s holy vow,—

Believe them not: they sing the song in vain;

For so it never was, and is not now.

Her heart was gentle as her face was fair,

With grace and love and pity dwelling there.