Page:Dora Sigerson Shorter - New Poems.djvu/24

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

THE GUARDIAN ANGELS


And as he prayed from off his heart
Fear’s clutching fingers fell,
A holy joy grew in his heart
He knew that all was well.

He turned him left and stayed to take
A white rose from her tree,
He turned him right and lilted low
A wild bird melody.

He looked him back and smiling saw
The tall church guarding him,
And then all fearless laughing sped
Through shadows strange and dim.
·····When but a year had passed away
There came before his gate,
A dying man who "Succour," cried
"Before it be too late."

"Oh, shrive me, Father, ere I die,"
The moaning stranger said;
He took him to his own hearth side
And laid him on his bed.

14