REMORSE.

VI.

SHAME.

I BEAR upon my brow the sign
Of sorrow and of pain;
Alas! no hopeful cross is mine,

It is the mark of Cain.

The course of passion and the fret

Of godless hope and fear,

Toil, care and guilt,—their hues have set,
And fixed that sternness there.

Saviour! wash out the imprinted shame!

That I no more may pine,

Sin's martyr, though not meet to claim
Thy cross, a saint of Thine.

d.

VII.

BONDAGE.

Он, prophet, tell me not of peace,
Or Christ's all-loving deeds;
Death only can from sin release,
And death to judgment leads.

Thou from thy birth hast set thy face
Towards thy Redeemer Lord;
To tend and deck His holy place,

And note His secret word.

I ne'er shall reach Heaven's glorious path;

Yet haply tears may stay

The purpose of His instant wrath,

And slake the fiery day.

Then plead for me, thou blessed saint,

While I in haste begin

All man e'er guessed of work or plaint

To wash away my sin.

VIII.

TERROR.

O FATHER, list a sinner's call!
Fain would I hide from man my fall—
But I must speak, or faint-

I cannot wear guilt's silent thrall:

Cleanse me, kind Saint!

"Sinner ne'er blunted yet sin's goad;

Speed thee, my son, a safer road,

And sue His pardoning smile

Who walked woe's depths, bearing man's load

Of guilt the while."

Yet raise a mitigating hand,

And minister some potion bland,

Some present fever-stay!

Lest one for whom His work was planned

Die of dismay.

"Peace cannot be, hope must be thine;

I can but lift the Mercy-sign.

This wouldst thou? It shall be !

Kneel down, and take the word divine,

ABSOLVO TE.

IX.

8.

RESTLESSNESS.

ONCE, as I brooded o'er my guilty state,

A fever seiz'd me, duties to devise
To buy me interest in my Saviour's eyes:
Not that His love I would extenuate,

But scourge and penance, and perverse self-hate,

Or gift of cost, served by an artifice

To quell my restless thoughts, and envious sighs And doubts, which fain heaven's peace would antedate. Thus, as I tossed, He said :—" Even holiest deeds

:

Shroud not the soul from God, nor soothe its needs;
Deny thee thine own fears, and wait the end!"
Stern lesson! Let me con it day by day,

And learn to kneel before the Omniscient Ray,
Nor shrink, while Truth's avenging shafts descend!

d.

THE PAST AND THE PRESENT.

X.

THE PAINS OF MEMORY.

WHAT time my heart unfolded its fresh leaves
In spring-time gay, and scatter'd flowers around,
A whisper warned of earth's unhealthy ground,
And all that there faith's light and pureness grieves ;
Sun's ray and canker-worm,

And sudden-whelming storm ;

But, ah! my self-will smiled, nor recked the gracious sound.

So now defilement dims life's morning-springs;

I cannot hear an early-cherished strain,

But first a joy, and then it brings a pain

Fear, and self-hate, and vain remorseful stings:
Tears lull my grief to rest,

Not without hope, this breast

May one day lose its load, and youth yet bloom again.

d.