The
Hermit
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A holy man, his soul to save
By
fleeing the world with all its sin,
Found out upon the shore a cave
And
dwelt therein,
Where all was silence but the sea
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Which
spoke of God continually.
The dawn would find him paying his court
Before
the golden throne of God,
While morning breezes round would sport,
And
on the sod
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Would
toss the incense-laden spray
That sparkled in the rising day.
At midnight when the sea was calm,
His
soul would rise among the stars
And thrill with wordless prayer and psalm,
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He
knew no bars
Could close him round in that vast dome
Which God had for Eternal Home.
The hermit heard no jarring notes
In
nature’s ageless harmonies,
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Not
even sails on distant boats
Disturbed
his skies;
But on the horizon he could see
The great whales sporting in their glee.
So, day by day, and more and more,
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His
spirit grew in love and peace;
Till every creature on the shore,
With
love’s increase,
Became to him a living friend
And taught him wisdom without end.
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The seaweeds with their mermaid locks,
The
limpid pools where crayfish dwell,
The barnacles upon the rocks,
And
every shell
Revealed to him the tireless ways
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God
works in silent nights and days. [Page 142]
And often when the winds were cold
Or
whispered soft as infant’s breath,
The hermit deemed the men of old,
Who
passed in death,
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Had
come to view the haunts again
Where once they wandered by the main.
But most of all the hermit loved
The
clouds upon the face of heaven,
Which, in a long procession moved,
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By
soft winds driven;
They seemed the thoughts which lurked behind
The workings of Eternal Mind.
Thus, never vexed by human strife,
He
plumbed Great Nature’s inner truth,
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And
found that unifying life
Which,
strong as youth,
Links all her varied forms in one
From tiny flower to stars and sun.
At even when the sunset’s flame
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Would
drench the sky in red and gold,
White plumaged gulls in circles came,
And
were so bold
They cried, impatient to be fed,
With scant doles of the hermit’s bread.
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Rich lichens shone with colours rare
Upon
the cavern’s walls and floor,
They grew in clusters here and there
A
golden store
Inwrought in the Creator’s plan,
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Long,
long before the birth of man.
The wild sea’s thunders were the praise
From
ocean’s heart to Him who reigns,
And time’s recurring nights and days,
In
rhythmic strains,
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Voiced
that subconscious self which lies
In green of earth and blue of skies. [Page
143]
Thus did the hermit live and pass,
Unknown,
not friendless, but apart,
Till kindly earth and kindlier grass
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Shrouded
his heart,
And elsewhere he attained the goal
Which waits the universal soul. [Page 144]
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