SPIRITUAL PRESENCE.
Reading edition
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BY MRS. MARY G. HORSFORD.
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When the still and solemn night
Broodeth o’er with wing of love,
And the stars with eyes of light
Look like spirits from above;
When the flowers their petals close
Softly in the slumbering air,
Bending meekly in repose
As a contrite soul at prayer;
And the waters sweep the shore
With a low and sullen chime,
Like Life’s current falling o’er
Into the abyss of Time;
Sometimes feel ye not a breath
As of pinions rushing by,
Viewless as the touch of Death?
’Tis an angel passing nigh.
Evermore ’neath rock or tree,
In the forest or the street,
’Mid the desert, on the sea,
We a seraph form may meet.
Human hearts! with vision clear
Look ye to each deed and thought;
Arm the spirit, torn in fear
From the act in evil wrought;
We do walk forever nigh
Waking ghost of envied dead,
And unmarked by mortal eye
With angelic hosts do tread.
While in chorus winds rejoice,
Though we see no guiding form,
Speaks there not a “still small voice”?
God is riding on the storm.
Tireless roll the worlds of light,
God is marking out their way;
Joyous beams the morning light,
God is smiling in the ray.
Soul! though gaunt and weary care
Haunt thine upward soaring free,
Let each pulse count out a prayer,
The Eternal walks with thee.