To-Day and To-Morrow

TO-DAY is mine; I hold it fast,Hold it and use it as I may,Unmindful of the shadow castBy that dim thing called Yesterday.

To-morrow hovers just before,A bright-winged shape, and lures me on,Till in my zeal to grasp and know her,I drop To-day,—and she is gone.

The bright wings captured lose their light:To-morrow weeps, and seems to say,“I am To-day,—ah, hold me tight!Erelong I shall be Yesterday.”

WORLD.”

THEY spy it from afar,The beacon’s fiery star,And storm-tossed birds, by fierce winds buffeted,Rally with half-spent force,And shape their struggling courseTo where it rears its blazing, beckoning head.

Faintly the tired wings beatThat rhythmical repeatWhich was such joy in summer and in sun;Glazed are the keen, bright eyes,And heave with panting sighsThe soft and plumèd bosoms every one.

O’er the white, weltering waves,Which yawn like empty graves,Borne on the urgings of the wind, they fly;They reach the luring glow,They launch and plunge, and lo!Are dashed upon the glass, and fall and die.

So through the storm and night,Outwearied with long flight,Our souls come crowding o’er the angry sea.In North, in East, in West,There is no place of rest,Except, O kindly Light, except with thee.

No cold, unyielding glassBars and forbids to pass;Thy dear light scorcheth not, nor burns in vain;The soul that finds and knowsSuch safe and sure reposeNeed nevermore go out or roam again.

Ah, steadfast citadel!Ah, lamp that burns so wellUpon the Rock of Ages, founded true!Above the angry seaWe urge our flight to thee.Shine, kindly Light, and guide us safely through!