WHERE THE SHADOWS DARE NOT BE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 302, 26 September 1888, Page 3

WHERE THE SHADOWS DARE NOT BE.

"O ! saw you not the shadow That o'er thy pathway fell, As grim as palsied malice. Black na a frowning hell ?" I saw it not, my brother, Not a shadow did I see ; I was in God's blessed sunshine— Thero the shadows dare not bo I 1 was roaming o'er the mountains, The world it lay below ; I was woavinq song and fancy To comfort those in woe. And now and then I'd gather The violet sweet and blue, How could I see the shadows In tho gladness of tho True? "O ! heard you not the murmurs, The curses deep and loud ; The jeering of the thoughtless. The laughter of the crowd?" 1 heard it not, my brother, I was list'ning to tho bee Singing anthems to the zephyrs, As they played upon tho lea. I heard the lark outpouring Her soul before the ihrone. And the bluebells rang their chorus In answer to my own : How coxild I hear the murmurs Thn t hate and spite should say, When bird and flower and sunshine Were smiling round my way ? How could I sco a shadow In the presence of His love? How could I hear a murmur Near the cooing of the dove ? My thoughts were past tho city. Where spite and malice dwell, Too near to heaven's sunshine To dream about a hell ! I heard no words of anger. No curses round my « ay, For like the dreams of slumber They fret and pass away ; But I heard a bright evangel, God's messenger is he, Who tells us, "In the sunshine The shadows dare not be !" W. R. Wills.