High as the eagle builds his lonely nest
Above the sea, above the paths of man,
And makes the elements his barbican,
That none may break the mother-eagle’s rest;

So build I far above all human eyes
My nest of love; Heaven’s face alone bends down
To give it sunlight, starlight; while is blown
A wind upon it out of Paradise.

None shall affright, no harm may come to her,
Whom I have set there in that lofty home:
Love’s eye is sleepless; I could feel the stir

E’en of God’s cohorts, if they chanced to come.
I am her shield; I would that I might prove
How dear I hold the lady of my love.

WHEN thou makest a voyage to the stars, go thou blindfolded;
and carry not a sword, but the sandals of thy youth.
—Egyptian Proverb.

SEEK thou the Angel of the Cross Roads ere thou goest upon a
journey, and she will give thee wisdom at the Four Corners.
—Egyptian Proverb.

PISGAH
Behold, now, I have touched the highest point
In my existence. When I turn my eyes
Backward to scan my outlived agonies,
I feel God’s finger touch me, to anoint

With this sweet Present the ungenerous Past,
With love the wounds that struck stark in my soul;
With hope life’s aching restlessness and dole;
To show me place to anchor in at last.

Like to a mother bending o’er the bed
Where sleeps, death-silent, one that left her side
Ere he had reached the flow of manhood’s tide,

So stood I by my life whence Life had fled.
But Life came back at Love’s clear trumpet-call,
And at Love’s feet I cast the useless pall.