THE LAW OF LIFE.

Deeply musing On the many mysteries of life; Half excusing All man’s seeming failures in the strife; Through the city Did I take my lonely way at night; Filled with pity For the miseries that met my sight, In the faces, sickly, sad and sunken, In the faces, meager, mean and shrunken, Wanton, leering, passionate and drunken, Which I saw that night, Passing through the city— Saw them by the street-lamps’ changing light. Burning brightly, Looked the watching stars from heaven above; As if lightly They beheld these wrecks of human love. “O, how distant,” Said I, “are they from this earth apart! How resistant To the woes that rend the human heart! Countless worlds! your radiant courses rounding, With your light the depth of distance sounding, Is there not some fount of love abounding? O, thou starlit night Brooding o’er the city! Would that truth might as thy stars shine bright.” Very lightly Was a woman’s hand laid on my arm. Pressing slightly— And a voice said—striving to be calm— “I am dying, Slowly dying for the want of love; Vainly trying To believe there is a God above. For I feel that I am sinking slowly, Losing daily, faith and patience lowly, Doomed to ways of sin and deeds unholy— All the weary night, Through this cruel city Do I wander till the morning light. “Hear me kindly, For I am not what I would have been, If most blindly I had not been tempted unto sin. I am lonely, And I long to shriek in anguish wild, O, if only I could be once more a little child! See! my eyes are weary-worn with weeping; Sorrow’s tide across my soul is sweeping; God no longer holds me in his keeping— I have prayed to-night, Wandering through the city, That I might not see the morning light.” Breathless, gazing On her pallid and impassioned face, How amazing Was the likeness that I there could trace! “Sister!” “Brother!” From our lips as by one impulse broke. Not another Word, then, for an instant brief we spoke. But the sweet and tender recollection Of our childhood, with its fond affection, And at last, the broken, lost connection, Came afresh that night, Standing in the city Underneath the street-lamps’ changing light. Pale and slender, Like a lily did she bow her head. Low and tender Was the earnest tone in which she said— “O, my brother! Tell me of our father.”—“He is dead.” “And our mother?” “And she, also, rests in peace,” I said. Only to my grievous words replying, By a long-drawn, deep and painful sighing, Sinking downward, as if crushed and dying, Did she seem that night, Standing in the city Underneath the street-lamps’ changing light. Wherefore should I Thrust her from my guilty heart away? Ah, how could I! Whatsoe’er the righteous world might say— She, my sister, One who shared in mine own life a part— Nay, I kissed her, And upraised her to a brother’s heart. And I said, “Henceforth we will not sever, But with faith and patience failing never, We will work for truth and right forever. Ministers of light, Watching o’er the city! Guide! O, guide our erring feet aright!” Gently o’er us Came a breath of warm and balmy air, And before us Stood a man with silvery, flowing hair. How appearing From the murky gloom that round us fell, Mild and cheering In his presence, I could never tell. But I say with solemn asservation, That it was no fanciful creation, Bearing to this life no true relation, Which we saw that night, Standing in the city, Underneath the street-lamps’ changing light. “Children!” said he, “One of life’s great lessons you are taught; Be then ready To apply the teaching as you ought. All are brothers— All are sisters in this lower life. Many others Make sad failures in the weary strife; But each failure is a grand expression Of the law which underlies progression, Which will raise the soul above transgression. Yea, this very night, All throughout this city, Every soul is striving toward the light.” “Bruised and broken, Many hearts in patient sorrow wait, To hear spoken Words of love, which often come too late. Lift their crosses, And their sins—the heaviest load of all— Bear their losses, And be patient with them when they fall.” Then he vanished, as the shadows parted, Leaving us alone, but hopeful hearted, Gazing into space where he departed From our wondering sight, In that mazy city— Vanished in the shadows of the night. Sacred presence! Dwelling just beyond our mortal sense, Through thine essence, Fill our beings with a life intense. By creation Man fulfills a destiny sublime, And salvation Comes to each in its appointed time. In that region of celestial splendor, Where the angel-faces look so tender, Human weakness needeth no defender. In the perfect light Of the heavenly city, Souls can read the law of life aright.