Poem May 9, 1901 Issue

The Shadows that Attend Us

By CLARENCE A. BUSKIRK.

The shadows that attend us
By ourselves are cast;
The sunbeams that befriend us,
From the heavens vast,
Shine as free gifts to all as long as time shall last.

It is thine own strange folly
That thy steps abide
In dark melancholy
Where vile shapes reside,
And where thou wearest chains of self-degrading pride.

Halt, O weary mortal,
Stumbling through the night!
Knock upon the portal
Leading unto Light,
And it shall open to thy prayer if thou dost ask aright.

Seek the joyous fountains
Of abounding Love,
Where the heaven-kiss'd mountains
Lift their heads above
The clouds and storms and fogs that through the valleys move.

Greed and lust and malice!—
Fling them all aside,
And a gracious palace
Then shall open wide
Its gates, within whose halls thenceforth thou canst abide.