THE EMPTY NICHE.
89
They say the citron-tree will never thrive
Transplanted from the soil where it matured;
Ah, would 't were so that men could only live
Through working on where they had love secured!
"The People of the Book," men called the Jews—
Our priests are truly "People of the Word;"
And he who serves the Master must not choose—
He renders feudal service to the Lord.
But we who love and lose will, like the king,
Still keep the alcove empty in the hall,
And hope, firm-hearted, that some day will bring
Our absent one to fill his pedestal.
