RABBI BEN EZRA. So, take and use Thy work! Amend what flaws may lurk, ΙΟΙ What strain o' the stuff, what warpings past the aim ! My times be in Thy hand! Perfect the cup as planned! Let age approve of youth, and death complete the same! ROBERT BROWNING. THE TENT. HY should a man raise stone and wood Why should he fear the brotherhood Of all things from on high? Why should a man not raise his form As shelterless and free As stands in sunshine or in storm Or if we thus, as creatures frail, And courage and endurance fail, The simplest that can keep THE TENT. From parching heat and noxious dews The Fathers of our mortal race, Had overspread with sinful shame In cold they sought the sheltered nook, In heat the airy shade, And oft their casual home forsook The morrow it was made; Diverging many separate roads, And while this holy sense remained, 'Mid easy shepherd cares, 103 104 THE TENT. In tents they often entertained The angels unawares : And to their spirits' fervid gaze The myst'ry was revealed, How the world's wound in future days Should by God's love be healed. Thus we, so late and far a link Of generation's chain, Delight to dwell in tents and think The old world young again; With Faith as wide and Thought as narrow From life demanded than the sparrow Gay-chirping by the door. The Tent! how easily it stands, Almost as if it rose Spontaneous from the green or sand, Express for our repose: Or, rather, it is we who plant This root, where'er we roam, And hold, and can to others grant, THE TENT. Make the divan-the carpets spread, Rest, weary heart! rest, weary head! And all your happiest memories woo, The subtle veil of beams. We all have much we would forget- And placid Hope, instead, shall set By her shall view unfurled Hid in the Eastern world. To slavish tyrannies their term Of terror she foretells; She brings to bloom the faith whose germ In Islam deeply dwells; Accomplishing each mighty birth That shall one day be born 105 |