Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.
By Organ Songs. IV. RestGeorge MacDonald (1824–1905)
Have gently drawn the dark;
Sent off the sun to fresher lands,
And curtained in the lark;
’Tis sweet, all tired with glowing day,
To fade with fading light,
To lie once more, the old weary way,
Upfolded in the night.
And unripe kisses reap,
In soothing dreams with sleep they blend,
Till even in dreams we sleep.
And if we wake while night is dumb,
’Tis sweet to turn and say,
It is an hour ere dawning come,
And I will sleep till day.
Where one all day may lie,
Earth’s bosom pillowing the head,
And let the world go by.
There come no watching mother’s eyes;
The stars instead look down;
Upon it breaks, and silent dies,
The murmur of the town.
This chamber, hid from none,
Hides safe from all, for no one cares
For him whose work is done.
Cheer thee, my friend; bethink thee how
A certain unknown place,
Or here or there, is waiting now,
To rest thee from thy race.
The slow composèd breath!
Not there the folding of the arms,
The cool, the blessèd death!
That needs no curtained bed to hide
The world with all its wars;
No grassy cover to divide
From sun and moon and stars.
In midst of pain and strife;
A mighty, conscious, willed repose,
The death of deepest life
To have and hold the precious prize
No need of jealous bars;
But windows open to the skies,
And skill to read the stars.
Where tumult enters not,
Is never cold with terror base,
Never with anger hot.
For if an evil host should dare
His very heart invest,
God is his deeper heart, and there
He enters in to rest.
And tear the scattered waves,
Peaceful as summer woods, below
Lie darkling ocean caves:
The wind of words may toss my heart,
But what is that to me!
’Tis but a surface storm—Thou art
My deep, still, resting sea.