John Oxenham

“ BRING US THE LIGHT I hear a clear voice calling, calling,
Calling out of the night,
O, you who live in the Light of Life,
Bring us the Light!
We are bound in the chains of darkness,
Our eyes received no sight,
O, you who have never been bond or blind,
Bring us the Light!
We live amid turmoil and horror,
Where might is the only right,
O, you to whom life is liberty,
Bring us the Light!
We stand in the ashes of ruins,
We are ready to fight the fight,
O, you whose feet are firm on the Rock,
Bring us the Light! ”

“ I am waiting, mighty Pélé!—Pélé! Pélé! Pélé! come!"
And the mountain roared and thundered;—but the goddess did not come.
"Hearken, Priest! You have deceived us. All your life has been a lie,
Black your heart is, red your hands are, with the blood of those who
die.
All these years you have misled us with your awful threats of doom.
Now it ends! I do defy you, and your goddess I defy.
Pélé, is not, never has been. All your worship is a lie.
"I will climb your sacred mountain. I will dare your lake of fire. ”

“ One sigh, perchance, for work unfinished here;—
Then a swift passing to a mightier sphere,
New joys, perfected powers, the vision clear,
And all the amplitude of heaven to work
The work he held so dear.
Great-Heart is dead, say they?
Nor dead nor sleeping! He lives on! His name
Shall kindle many a heart to equal flame.
The fire he lighted shall burn on and on,
Till all the darkness of the lands be gone,
And all the kingdoms of the earth be won,
And one.
A soul so fiery sweet can never die, But lives and loves and works through all eternity. ”

“ Through earth's retardings and the clinging clay,
Into the sunshine of God's perfect day.
No fetters then! No bonds of time or space!
But powers as ample as the boundless grace
That suffered man, and death, and yet, in tenderness,
Set wide the door, and passed Himself before—
As He had promised—to prepare a place.
Yea, we may hope!
For we are seeds,
Dropped into earth for heavenly blossoming.
Perchance, when comes the time of harvesting,
His loving care
May find some use for even a humble tare.
We know not what we shall be—only this—
That we shall be made like Him—as He is. ”

“ But grace grows dim and the fire grows cold,
We are heavy with greed and lust and gold,
And life creeps low in the land.
Break your bonds, Britain!
Stand up once again for the right!
We have stained our hands in the times that are past,
Before God, we would wash them white.
For the Nations are in the proving;
Each day is Judgment Day;
And the peoples He finds wanting
Shall pass—by the winding way.
HEARTS IN EXILE O Exiled Hearts—for you, for you— Love still can find the way! Hear the voices of the women on the road! O Shadowed Lives—for you, for you— Hope hath not lost her ray! ”

“ We need no priest to tell us God is Love.—
Have we not eyes to see,
And minds to apprehend, and hearts
That leap responsive to His Charity?
God's gifts are free.—
Let no man stand between
Us and His liberty!
We need no priest to point a way to heaven.—
God's heaven is here,—is there,—
Man's birthright, with the light and air,—
"God is His own and best interpreter." ”

“ O, I fear the sea, and I hate the sea, That took my man and my lad from me; O the sea is hungry ever!
WE THANK THEE, LORD We thank Thee, Lord,
That of Thy tender grace,
In our distress
Thou hast not left us wholly comfortless.
We thank Thee, Lord,
That of Thy wondrous might,
Into our night
Thou hast sent down the glory of the Light.
We thank Thee, Lord,
That all Thy wondrous ways,
Through all our days,
Are Wisdom, Right, and Ceaseless Tenderness.
THE VAIL He only sees both sides of that dark vail
That hangs before men's eyes—
He only. It is well! ”

“ Great-Heart of Sweet White Fire.
Great-Heart is dead, they say,—
Fighting the fight,
Holding the Light,
Into the night.
Great-Heart is dead, they say.—
But the Light shall burn the brighter.
And the night shall be the lighter,
For his going;
And a rich, rich harvest for his sowing.
Great-Heart is dead, they say!—
What is death to such an one as Great-Heart? ”

“ All their hearts become as water, all their faces blanch with fear,
Deaths they suffer in the waiting, while dread Death draws near.
Now he stands in dreadful menace, seeking with a baleful eye
For the sweetest and the fairest—for the meetest sacrifice.
"Choose, O choose!"—they cry in terror; "choose your victim and be
gone,
For we each die deaths while waiting, till dread Pélé's choice be
known!
Choose your victim, Priest of Pélé, choose your victim and be gone!" ”

“ The call of the Silver Sea!
As needle to pole is my heart to thee,
Pearl of the Silver Sea!
E.A., Nov. 6, 1900
Bright stars of Faith and Hope, her eyes
Shall shine for us through all the years.
For all her life was Love, and fears
Touch not the love that never dies.
And Death itself, to her, was but
The wider opening of the door
That had been opening, more and more,
Through all her life, and ne'er was shut. ”

“ KAPIOLANI Where the great green combers break in thunder on the barrier reefs,—
Where, unceasing, sounds the mighty diapason of the deep,—
Ringed in bursts of wild wave-laughter, ringed in leagues of flying
foam,—
Long lagoons of softest azure, curving beaches white as snow,
Lap in sweetness and in beauty all the isles of Owhyhee.
Land more lovely sun ne'er shone on than these isles of Owhyhee,
Spendthrift Nature's wild profusion fashioned them like fairy bowers ”

“ Rent Vail, revealing God to man,—
Help, Lord! Lest I should crucify,
By thought or deed, Thy Love again.
JUDGMENT DAY Every day is Judgment Day,
Count on no to-morrow.
He who will not, when he may,
Act to-day, to-day, to-day,
Doth but borrow
Sorrow.
DARKNESS AND LIGHT There is darkness still, gross darkness, Lord,
On this fair earth of Thine.
There are prisoners still in the prison-house,
Where never a light doth shine. ”

“ As sun and sea,
What care we what comes to-morrow_?"
Louder still and louder, Pélé roars within her lake of fire,
And the youths and maidens trembling look in fear up Mauna Loa,
Dreading sight of that grim figure stalking down the mountain side;
For when Pélé claims her victims none the summons may avoid.
Pélé calls for whom she chooses—whom she chooses goes,—and dies.
See! He comes! They start in terror. There, along the mountain side,
Death comes stalking, slowly, surely,—Pélé must be satisfied. ”

“ Like a snake the ruthless finger holds them all in terror still;
One is there whose life is broken, parted from his chosen bride,
But the threatening finger, heedless of the lives it may divide,
Lights upon a tiny maiden,—Pélé must be satisfied!
Slow, the grim high-priest of Pélé turns to climb the mountain side;
Slow, the victims turn and follow,—Pélé must be satisfied.
And the rest shrink, dumb and helpless, daring not to lift an eye,
And beyond, the labouring mountain cracks and belches living fires,
Till the island reels and shudders at dread Pélé's agonies. ”

“ But a greater one than Pélé walked the mountain side that day;—
To them, climbing, dumb and dim-eyed—like a flash of heavenly flame,
Swift and bright as saving angel, fair Kapiolani came,
Swiftly as a saving angel, gleaming like a heavenly flame,
Thirsting like a sword for battle, fair Kapiolani came. ”

“ With every portal barred against the Light.
A land in thrall to ancient mystic faiths,
A land of iron creeds and gruesome deeds,
A land of superstitions vast and grim,
And all the noisome growths that Darkness breeds.
Like sunny waves upon an iron-bound coast,
The Light beats up against the close-barred doors,
And seeks vain entrance, yet beats on and on,
In hopeful faith which all defeat ignores. ”

“ And the great high priest of Pélé came like Death down Mauna Loa,
Came to soothe the awful goddess, came to choose the sacrifice,
Chose the fairest youth or maiden, pointed with a deadly finger,
Led them weeping up the mountain, victims to the Lake of Fire. ”

“ To the darkness and the sorrow of the Night,
Came—the—Light,
Came—the—Light,
Came the Wonder and the Glory of the Light.
There are sorrows still, there is darkness still,
There are still gross wrongs to set right;
There are grim black stains, there are peoples in chains,
To be loosed from the grip of the Night. ”

“ For that brief glimpse vouchsafed within the vail;
For all His gracious life; and for His Death,
With low-bowed heads and hearts impassionate,
We thank Thee, Lord!
For all life's beauties, and their beauteous growth;
For Nature's laws and Thy rich providence;
For all Thy perfect processes of life;
For the minute perfection of Thy work,
Seen and unseen, in each remotest part;
For faith, and works, and gentle charity;
For all that makes for quiet in the world;
For all that lifts man from his common rut ”

“ WEAVERS ALL Warp and Woof and Tangle,— Weavers of Webs are we. Living and dying—and mightier dead, For the shuttle, once sped, is sped—is sped;— Weavers of Webs are we.
White, and Black, and Hodden-gray,— Weavers of Webs are we. To every weaver one golden strand Is given in trust by the Master-Hand;— Weavers of Webs are we.
And that we weave, we know not,— Weavers of Webs are we. The threads we see, but the pattern is known To the Master-Weaver alone, alone;— Weavers of Webs are we. ”

“ All around them flowers and spices,—red hibiscus, sweet pandanus,
And behind, the labouring mountain groaned and growled unceasingly.
"_Sea and sunshine,
Care is moonshine,
All our hearts are light with laughter.
We are free
As sun and sea,
What care we for what comes after?"
Bride.
"Life was sweet before Love found her,
In his faery bowers.
Life is sweeter,
And completer,
Since he found her,
There, and crowned her
With his fadeless flowers."
Bridegroom.
"Love sought long before he found her,
Ne'er was love like ours! ”

“ Bound him in darkness, till the glorious morrow
Unsealed his eyes to that he had not known.
WAKENING This mortal dies,—
But, in the moment when the light fails here,
The darkness opens, and the vision clear
Breaks on his eyes.
The vail is rent,—
On his enraptured gaze heaven's glory breaks,
He was asleep, and in that moment wakes.
MACEDONIA, 1903 Devils' work!
Devils' work, my masters!
Britain, your hands are red!
You may close your heart, but you cannot shirk
This terrible fact,—We—kept—the—Turk. ”

“ So small, a man might hardly enter there,
Low-browed and shadowed, and close-pressed to earth—
A very needle's eye—scarce visible.
I looked and wondered. Could this trivial way
Be the sole entrance to the light of day?
And as I stood perplext, a clear voice cried,—
Come! Enter in! The Gate is open wide. ”

“ GIANT CIRCUMSTANCE THE HUNGRY SEA WE THANK THEE, LORD THE VAIL NO EAST OR WEST THE DAY—THE WAY LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY FREEMEN THE LONG ROAD THE CHRIST THE BALLAD OF LOST SOULS PROFIT AND LOSS FREE MEN OF GOD TREASURE-TROVE THE GATE BRING US THE LIGHT ALL'S WELL! HIS MERCY ENDURETH FOR EVER GOD IS GOOD SOME—AND SOME THE PRINCE OF LIFE JUDGMENT DAY DARKNESS AND LIGHT INDIA LIVINGSTONE LIVINGSTONE THE BUILDER LIVINGSTONE'S SOLILOQUY KAPIOLANI THEY COME! ”

“ Hither and thither moves, and mates and slays,
And one by one back in the Closet lays."
Omar Khayyam.
A Chequer-Board of mingled Light and Shade?
And We the Pieces on it deftly laid?
Moved and removed, without a word to say,
By the Same Hand that Board and Pieces made?
No Pieces we in any Fateful Game,
Nor free to shift on Destiny the blame;
Each Soul doth tend its own immortal flame,
Fans it to Heaven, or smothers it in shame.
CROSS-ROADS Oft, as he jogs along the Winding-Way,
Occasion comes for Every Man to say,—
"This Road?—or That?" ”

“ Most writers, I imagine, find themselves at times in that same predicament—worried by some thought which dances within them and stubbornly refuses to be satisfied with the sober dress of prose. For their own satisfaction and relief, in such a case, if they be not fools they endeavour to garb it more to its liking, and so find peace. ”

“ I will eat your sacred berries. I will dare your goddess there,
There and then to wreak her vengeance, then and there to come in fire,
And with awful burnings end me, now and for eternity;
But if Pélé does not end me, then her worship ends this day."
Then the great high priest of Pélé turned to fiery Kilauea.
"Come!" ”

“ And above all, the great fact remains that if Great Britain, Germany, Russia and the United States joined hands for a World Peace, they could ensure it. Germany is still mistrustful. On her lies a great responsibility. ”

“ A workless worker in a world of work.
But, with a word,
Just bid me home,
And I will come
Right gladly,—
Yea, right gladly
Will I come.
KAPIOLANI IN RAROTONGAN Mr. F.W. Christian, of the Polynesian Society of New Zealand, whose personal acquaintance with the South Sea Islands and their dialects is unique, is translating "Kapiolani" into Rarotongan. He writes—
"I enclose a four-line stanza which, translating your first line—'Where the great green combers break,' etc.—strictly according to East Polynesian ballad-metres, ushers in your great theme. ”

“ TAMATE BURDEN-BEARERS THE IRON FLAIL SARK E.A. THE PASSING OF THE QUEEN THE GOLDEN CORD THANK GOD FOR PEACE! GOD'S HANDWRITING STEPHEN—SAUL PAUL WAKENING MACEDONIA, 1903 HEARTS IN EXILE WANDERED BIDE A WEE! ”