IN THE NIGHT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2623, 22 June 1904, Page 63

IN THE NIGHT.

Dun-canopied by leagues oE drifting cloud, He wanders on ancl on by desert \vay3. The torrent rumbles through the darksome

glpng Ip n liike some dread spirit pent in durance lar From, her whom he has loved, O ages long. The cataract, leaning from the craggy ledge; 'The sleet that hurtles from the snowy riclge ; The hollow blast that rocks the girnt treesHe feels them, he re.ioices in the rage, The gloom, the grandeur of descending night. Time was (O Gcd, v.'hen every hope has flown, .Why should our dresms of holy fellowship Seturn to taunt us with the barren cry— "~No more for evermore ") : time was when hp, Beside the sunlit reaches of the stream, .Wandeied, responding to the spirit voice That stole across 'the Vast with wondrous power, And sank into his solitary soul Till it was utter blessedne" <o breathe His aspirations to. the dcv -"Ml, 'And know that they were echoed far away Until they touched her weary, wistful soul. And yet, when blackest glooms are brooding round, He shapes his anguish into solemn prayer : " Not for myself, O God, not for myself, But for i,he "posses 3o ? ° f - "'?' 'leathlcs love' Wrap me with sevenfold darkness, doom me ' forth Through all the ages of Thine ages, far To wander, lost, alone, so I mi^ht come To grandly greet the long, long yearned-for iWhen thou art Lord of all who hungered here 'As lam yearning now. O Holy God, r Phe groans of millions rend my bleeding heart, 'And still Thou keepest silence. Turn again, And have compassion, lest we fall fiom Thee, To nevermore return. Send forth Thy Son To bind the Dragon for a thousand years, 'L'hat earth ar.a the immeasurable tracts About her might have peace and worship And Him whom Thou hast sent. Look forth, illume „ "l-e desert wilderness where we await • v-Ve ages with this time-old agony ■ '■" oriet'h, 'Conic, Lord Jasus. quickly come, - v r ,cr deliverance for toil-worn souls .-" ij 2 'lit for those in awful dungeons pent.' —Chaeles Ofcajs Palmer. Birciidell, Arauri, Msy, 1904,