Show STUDENT LIFE MAY 1903 Because of You Sweet is the breath of the lilac And the young grass bending with dew And the earth has a note Like a song in the throat Of a bird because of you Pillar of light in the desert Is your white soul leading me through And I feel not a fear For the heavens bend near To the earth because of you Strong for the tempest and battle And to God more trusting and true With a smile for the scars And a face to the stars O my love ! because of you —Annie Pike The Two Watchers I Beautiful Dead! but yestere’en thine eyes Flashed with the fire of love and life and joy Thy smile created heavens of the skies Which arch our lives yet like some worthless toy Thy life is cast aside when well we know That those are spared whom death had best destroy — There is no God else this would not be so II Fair sinless Dead thy work is done! At last Thy feet unstained may touch the other shore All fear of future danger now is past And fierce temptation tears thy heart no more God saved thee ere the world had proved a fraud— This peaceful smile thy face ne’er wore before — Who can see this and say there is no God? — Annie Pike RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF ART The Fine Arts illustrate religion willingly because it affords good subjects and there is nothing in the artistic spirit in any way incompatible with the purest spirit of devotion Indeed art draws us continually towards a state of mind akin to the devotional by so much time being spent in the conscious contemplation of the work of the Supreme Artist But there is a vast difference between the temper of mind which takes pleasure in God’s work and all those various forms of religious fanaticism which condemn beauty and pleasure as sinful The healthiest temper of art is to rejoice in the sight of all visible beauty fully heartily and exquisitely The tendency of religious fanaticism is to turn away from all earthly loveliness and to mortify the desire of the eyes |