468 FISHERS OF MEN. They have cast their nets again and again, If our feeble prayers seem only in vain, Though the storm is loud, and our voice is drowned By the roar of the wind and sea, We know that more terrible tempests found Their ruler, O Lord, in Thee. See, they do not pause, they are toiling on, On the star above, and ever anon O Mary, listen! for danger is nigh, O watch-as of old thou didst watch the boat On the Galilean lake, And grant that the fishers may keep afloat, Till the nets, o'ercharged, shall break. Adelaide A. Proctor. Bathing. THE May winds gently lift the willow leaves; Ye, the soft gales that visit there, From your waving censers greet With stores of freshest, balmiest air. Come bathe the steaming noontide hour invites ; Darker and deeper seem to grow: On and onward still they seek, Where sport may less adventurous show. At length the boldest springs: but ere he cleave Heaven is beneath him: shall he sink or swim? 470 BATHING. Far in boundless depths, he sees Oh mark him well, ye candidates of heaven, Makes awful answer: Come to me: Once for all now seal your choice, With Christ to tread the boisterous sea. And dare we come ? since he, the trusted saint, Yes, we answer the dread call, Not fearless, but in duteous awe; He will stay the frail heart's fall, His arm will onward, upward draw. O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt? Work 'neath his eye, and near him make thy grave. Shall in the Heavens remembered be, Faith the three denials sore O'erpaying, with confessions three. BATHING. Strange power of mighty love! if heaven allow And feel the cold waves for his sake ; All her giving of no worth, Yet till she give, her heart will ache. 471 Lyra Innocentium. The Sans of Zebedee. RASH was the tongue, and unadvisedly bold, Mant. |