Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.
By Olrig Grange (1872) (Selected Lines). II. My sun sinks without clouds or fearsWalter Chalmers Smith (18241908)
M
No spectral shadows gather round
The gateway of the endless years,
Where we, long blindfold, are unbound,
And lay our swathings on the ground,
To face the Eternal. So I rest
Peacefully on the Strong One’s breast,
Even though the mystery profound
Ever a mystery be confessed.
Nor chafe and foam o’er sunken rocks.
I don’t know that my Faith is yet
Quite regular and orthodox;
I have not keys for all the locks,
And may not pick them. Truth will bear
Neither rude handling, nor unfair
Evasion of its wards, and mocks
Whoever would falsely enter there.
Where sons of God yield up their breath:
There is no gain except by loss,
There is no life except by death,
There is no vision but by Faith,
Nor glory but by bearing shame,
Nor justice but by taking blame;
And that Eternal Passion saith,
“Be emptied of glory and right and name.”