And the souls mounting up to God
Went by her like thin flames.

And still she bowed herself and stooped

Out of the circling charm`;

Until her bosom must have made

The bar she leaned on warm,

And the lilies lay as if asleep
Along her bended arm,

From the fixed place of Heaven she saw Time like a pulse shake fierce

Through all the worlds. Her gaze still

The sun was gone now; the curled moon Was like a little feather

Fluttering far down the Gulf; and now She spoke through the still weather. Her voice was like the voice the stars Had when they sang together.

"

(Ah, sweet! even now, in that bird's song, Strove not her accents there,

Fain to be hearkened? When those bells Possessed the mid-day air, is 7m 1 Strove not her steps to reach [my

Down all the echoing stair, ?)..

side,T

Hede.

"I wish that he were come to me, For he will come,' she said;

"Have I not prayed in Heaven ?—on earth, Lord, Lord, has he not prayed?

Are not two prayers a perfect strength? And shall I feel afraid?

"When round his head the aureole clings, And he is clothed in white,

I'll take his hand and go with him
To the deep wells of light;

As unto a stream we will step down,
And bathe there in God's sight.

"We two will stand beside that shrine, Occult, withheld, untrod,

Whose lamps are stirred continually
With prayer sent up to God;

And see our old prayers, granted, melt
Each like a little cloud. LV CL

We two will lie the shadow of
That living mystic 'tree,
Within whose secret growth

gen the Dove

Is sometimes felt to be. While every leaf that His plumes touch Saith His Name audibly. !

The songs I sing here; which his voice

Shall pause in, hushed and slow, *}

And find some knowledge at each pause, Or some new thing to know."

3

(Alas! We two, we two, thou say'st'! Yea, one wast thou with me

That once of old. But shall God lift
To endless unity

The soul whose likeness with thy soul
Was but its love for thee?)

"We two," she said, “will seek the groves Where the Lady Mary is, ***

With her five hand naidens, whose names
Are five sweet symphonies,
Cecily, Gertrude, Magdalen,
Margaret, and Rosalys.

"Circlewise sit they, with bound locks
And foreheads garlanded;

Into the fine cloth, white like flame,
Weaving the golden thread,

To fashion the birth-robes for them
Who are just born, being dead.

'He shall fear, haply, and be dumb; Then will I lay my cheek!

"

H

To his, and tell about our love, ni bué

Not once abashed or weak :

And the dear Mother will approve

My pride, and let me speak.

Herself shall bring us, hand in hand,

To Him, round whom all souls:

Kneel, the clear-ranged unnumbered heads
Bowed with their aureoles :

And angels meeting us shall sing
To their citherns and citoles.

"There will I ask of Christ the Lord
Thus much for him and me :-
Only to live as once on earth
With Love-only to be,
As then awhile, for ever now
Together, I and he."

She gazed and listened and then said,
Less sad of speech than mild,-
"All this is when he comes.' She ceased.
The light thrilled towards her, fill'd

With angels in strong level flight,
Her eyes prayed, and she smil'd.

(I saw her smile.) But soon their path'
Was vague in distant spheres :

And then she cast her arms along
The golden barriers,

And laid her face between her hands

And wept. (I heard her tears.)

ELLEN MARY DOWNING (known as "MARY OF THE NATION "). 1828

Old Church, thou still art Catholic !-e'en dream they as they may tdus That the new rites and worship have swept the old away;

There is no form of beauty raised by Nature or by Art,

That preaches not God's saving truths to man's adoring heart!

In vain they tore the altar down; in vain they flung aside

The mournful emblem of the death which

our sweet Saviour died;

In vain they left no single trace of saint or angel here

Still Angel-spirits haunt the ground, and to the soul appear.

I marvei how, in scenes like these, so coldly

they can pray,

Nor hold sweet commune with the dead who

once knelt down as they ;

Yet not as they, in sad mistrust or sceptic doubt for, oh,

They looked in hope to the blessed saints, these dead of long ago.