But soon the heavy sea’s resistless swell
       Came rolling in once more,
  Spreading its bitter o’er the clear sweet well
       And pebbled shore. 
  Like a fair star thick buried in a cloud,
       Or life in the grave’s gloom,
  The well, enwrapped in a deep watery shroud,
       Sunk to its tomb.

  As one who by the beach roams far and wide,
       Remnant of wreck to save,
  Again I wandered when the salt sea-tide
       Withdrew its wave;
  And there, unchanged, no taint in all its sweet,
       No anger in its tone,
  Still as it thought some happy brook to meet,
       The spring flowed on.

  While waves of bitterness rolled o’er its head,
       Its heart had folded deep
  Within itself, and quiet fancies led,
       As in a sleep;
  Till, when the ocean loosed his heavy chain,
       And gave it back to day,
  Calmly it turned to its own life again
       And gentle way.

  Happy, I thought, that which can draw its life
       Deep from the nether springs,
  Safe ’neath the pressure, tranquil mid the strife,
       Of surface things. 
  Safe—­for the sources of the nether springs
       Up in the far hills lie;
  Calm—­for the life its power and freshness brings
       Down from the sky.

  So, should temptations threaten, and should sin
       Roll in its whelming flood,
  Make strong the fountain of thy grace within
       My soul, O God! 
  If bitter scorn, and looks, once kind, grown strange,
       With crushing chillness fall,
  From secret wells let sweetness rise, nor change
       My heart to gall!

  When sore thy hand doth press, and waves of thine
       Afflict me like a sea,—­
  Deep calling deep,—­infuse from source divine
       Thy peace in me! 
  And when death’s tide, as with a brimful cup,
       Over my soul doth pour,
  Let hope survive,—­a well that springeth up
       Forevermore!

  Above my head the waves may come and go,
       Long brood the deluge dire,
  But life lies hidden in the depths below
       Till waves retire,—­
  Till death, that reigns with overflowing flood,
       At length withdraw its sway,
  And life rise sparkling in the sight of God
       An endless day.

ANONYMOUS.

* * * * *

ULTIMA VERITAS.

  In the bitter waves of woe,
    Beaten and tossed about
  By the sullen winds that blow
    From the desolate shores of doubt,—­

  When the anchors that faith had cast
    Are dragging in the gale,
  I am quietly holding fast
    To the things that cannot fail: 

  I know that right is right;
    That it is not good to lie;
  That love is better than spite,
    And a neighbor than a spy;

  I know that passion needs
    The leash of a sober mind;
  I know that generous deeds
    Some sure reward will find;