MY Beloved, from earth's many voices
Welcome me to Thy seclusion sweet—
Let me still, and restful, and adoring,
Sit with Mary at Thy blessed Feet—
In Thy secret place, alone with Thee,
None beside to hear, and none to see.
Led by wandering gleams o'er fen and moorland,
What are we, outward at our best?
For the heart amidst the world's allurings
Craveth evermore for God and rest—
God and rest-all else the weary load
Of a toiler on an endless road.
Blessed he, who from the strife has entered
God's fair Home of peace forever more—
Sounds of the great world's confusion murmuring
As the sea upon a distant shore;
Here, ere yet his earthly day is done,
His eternal task of love begun.
In the desert still, yet by the river
Bearing heavenly fruit, a healing tree;
In the Spirit and in truth adoring
Him whom none but eyes anointed see—
Marvels of God's secret place made known
Unto him who dwells with God alone,—
There the lonely heart His sweetness learneth,
Sheltered there beneath the shadowing wings—
In the depths of hidden rest encompassed
By the tender gleams of heavenly things;
Who amidst the world's sad mirth can tell,
What it is apart in God to dwell?
G. T. S.