So love for hate shall be, And all thy sinning cease.

"Say, wilt thou have it so?"
Thereat, far off, we saw
The beast lift up his paw,
His great tail wagging go.

Our Father took the paw
Into his blessèd hand,
Knelt down upon the sand,
Facing the creature's jaw.

That were a sight to see:

Agobio's folk trooped out; They heard not all that rout, Neither the beast nor he.

For he was praying yet,
And on his illumined face
A shamed and loving gaze
The terrible wolf had set.

When they came through the town,
His hand that beast did stroke,
He spake unto the folk
Flocking to touch his gown.

A sweet discourse was this;

He prayed them that they make
Peace, for the Lord Christ's sake,

With this poor wolf of His;

And told them of their sins,
How each was deadlier far
Than wolves or lions are,
Or sharks with sword-like fins.

Afterward some came near,

Took the beast's paw and shook,

And answered his sad look

With words of honest cheer.

Our Father, ere he went,

Bade that each one should leave Some food at morn and eve For his poor penitent.

And so, three years or more,

The wolf came morn and evenYea, long forgiven and shriven, Fed at each townsman's door;

And grew more gray and old,
Withal so sad and mild,
Him feared no little child
Sitting in the sun's gold.

The women, soft of heart,
Trusted him and were kind:
Men grew of equal mind,
None longer stepped apart.

The very dogs, 't was said,
Would greet him courteously,
And pass his portion by,
Though they went on unfed.

But when three years were gone
He came no more, but died;
In a cave on the hillside

You may count each whitening bone.

And then it came to pass

All gently of him spake,
For Francis his dear sake,
Whose Brother Wolf this was.

SHEEP AND LAMBS.

All in the April evening,
April airs were abroad,
The sheep with their little lambs
Passed me by on the road.

The sheep with their little lambs
Passed me by on the road;

All in the April evening

I thought on the Lamb of God.

The lambs were weary, and crying
With a weak, human cry.

I thought on the Lamb of God
Going meekly to die.

Up in the blue, blue mountains
Dewy pastures are sweet,
Rest for the little bodies,

Rest for the little feet,

But for the Lamb of God,

Up on the hill-top green,

Only a Cross of shame

Two stark crosses between.

All in the April evening,
April airs were abroad,

I saw the sheep with their lambs,
And thought on the Lamb of God.

DE PROFUNDIS.

You must be troubled, Asthore,
Because last night you came
And stood on the moonlit floor,
And called again my name.
In dreams I felt your tears,
In dreams mine eyes were wet;
O, dead for seven long years!
And can you not forget?
Are you not happy yet?

The mass-bell shall be rung,
The mass be said and sung,
And God will surely hear;
Go back and sleep, my dear!

You went away when you heard
The red cock's clarion crow.
You have given my heart a sword,
You have given my life a woe,
I, who your burden bore,

On whom your sorrows fell;
You had to travel, Asthore,
Your bitter need to tell,
And I was faring well!

The mass-bell shall be rung,
The mass be said and sung,
And God will surely hear;

Go back and sleep, my dear!

SINGING STARS.

"What sawest thou, Orion, thou hunter of the star-lands, On that night star-sown and azure when thou cam'st in splendor sweeping,

And amid thy starry brethren from the near lands and the far lands

All the night above a stable on the earth thy watch wert keeping?"

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Oh, I saw the stable surely, and the young Child and the Mother,

And the placid beasts still gazing with their mild eyes full of loving.

And I saw the trembling radiance of the Star, my lordliest

brother,

Light the earth and all the heavens as he kept his guard unmoving.

"There were kings that came from Eastward with their ivory, spice, and sendal,

With gold fillets in their dark hair, and gold broidered robes and stately,

And the shepherds, gazing starward, over yonder hill did wend all,

And the silly sheep went meekly, and the wise dog marvelled greatly.

"Oh we knew, we stars, the stable held our King, His glory

shaded,

That His baby hands were poising all the spheres and constellations;

Berenice shook her hair down, like a shower of stardust braided,

And Arcturus, pale as silver, bent his brows in adorations.

"The stars sang all together, sang their love-songs with the angels,

With the Cherubim and Seraphim their shrilly trumpets

blended.

They have never sung together since that night of great evangels,

And the young Child in the manger, and the time of bondage ended."

LARKS.

All day in exquisite air

The song clomb an invisible stair,
Flight on flight, story on story,

Into the dazzling glory.

There was no bird, only a singing,
Up in the glory, climbing and ringing,
Like a small golden cloud at even,
Trembling 't wixt earth and heaven.

I saw no staircase winding, winding,
Up in the dazzle, sapphire and blinding,
Yet round by round, in exquisite air,
The song went up the stair.

SUMMER-SWEET.

Honey-sweet, sweet as honey smell the lilies,
Little lilies of the gold in a ring;

Little censers of pale gold are the lilies,

That the wind, sweet and sunny, sets a-swing.
Smell the rose, sweet of sweets, all a-blowing!
Hear the cuckoo call in dreams, low and sweet!
Like a very John-a-Dreams coming, going.

There's honey in the grass at our feet.

There's honey in the leaf and the blossom,
And honey in the night and the day,
And honey-sweet the heart in Love's bosom,
And honey-sweet the words Love will say.