OCR Text |
Show Longing. j Of all the myriad moods of mind That through the soul come throng- inS. Which one was e'er so dear, so kind, i So beautiful as Longing? 2 The thing we long for, that we are i For one transcendent moment, v Before the Present poor and bare Can make its sneering comment. I Still, through our paltry stir and strife, Glows down the wished ideal, And longing molds in clay what life Carves on the marble real; To let the new life in, we know, Desire must ope the portal; ' Perhaps the longing to be so Helps make the soul immortal. Longing is God's fresh heavenward will, With our poor earthward striving; We quench it that we may be still Content with merely living; But, would we learn that heart's full scope Which we are hourly wronging, Our lives must climb from hope to hope, I And realize our longing. Ah! let us hope that to our praise Good God not only reckons The moments when we tread his ways, But when the spirit beckon-?: That some slight good is also wrought, Beyond1 self-satisfaction, When we are simply good in thought Howe'r we fail in action. 0 James Russell Lowell. |