EX TENEBRIS
BEFORE us all the way lies dark,
A rugged, sunless length;
And yet we ask thee not for light
To make the gloomy spaces bright
And give the stinging thorns to sight—
We only pray for strength.
A rugged, sunless length;
And yet we ask thee not for light
To make the gloomy spaces bright
And give the stinging thorns to sight—
We only pray for strength.
For strength to shroud dead love and lay
The rue where roses blend;
For strength to tread, with eyes unwet
And lips calm-touched 'gainst useless fret,
The paths wherein our feet are set,
And so to reach the end.
The rue where roses blend;
For strength to tread, with eyes unwet
And lips calm-touched 'gainst useless fret,
The paths wherein our feet are set,
And so to reach the end.
THE GOOD-BYE ROAD
NO sign-board guides, but we may not miss
The Goodbye Road, the Goodbye Road;
It starts in the rain, in a rain of tears,
With a roseleaf kiss and a shudder of fears
As we pass to the Last Abode.
The Goodbye Road, the Goodbye Road;
It starts in the rain, in a rain of tears,
With a roseleaf kiss and a shudder of fears
As we pass to the Last Abode.
And whither it runs beyond the turn
Nobody knows, nobody knows.
For the eyes we loved and the lips we kissed
Are lost in the shrouding shadows and mist,
And 'tis dark where the roadway goes.
Nobody knows, nobody knows.
For the eyes we loved and the lips we kissed
Are lost in the shrouding shadows and mist,
And 'tis dark where the roadway goes.
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