Above the lowly plants it towers,
The fennel, with its yellow flowers,
And in an earlier age than ours

Was gifted with the wondrous powers,
Lost vision to restore.

It gave new strength, and fearless mood;
And gladiators, fierce and rude,
Mingled it in their daily food;

And he who battled and subdued,
The wreath of fennel wore.

Then in Life's goblet freely press
The leaves that give it bitterness,
Nor prize the colored waters less,
For in thy darkness and distress

New light and strength they give.

And he who has not learned to know
How false its sparkling bubbles show,
How bitter are the drops of woe,
With which its brim may overflow,

He has not learned to live.

The prayer of Ajax was for light;

Through all that dark and desperate fight,

The blackness of that noonday night,

He asked but the return of sight,

To see his foeman's face.

9

Let our unceasing, earnest prayer
Be, too, for light,-for strength to bear
Our portion of the weight of care,
That crushes into dumb despair

One half the human race.

O suffering, sad humanity!

O ye afflicted ones, who lie
Steeped to the lips in misery,

Longing, and yet afraid to die,

Patient, though sorely tried!

I pledge you in this cup of grief,

Where floats the fennel's bitter leaf!

The Battle of our Life is brief,

The alarm,—the struggle,—the relief,-

Then sleep we side by side.

BLIND BARTIMEUS.

BLIND Bartimeus at the gates

Of Jericho in darkness waits;

He hears the crowd;-he hears a breath

Say, "It is Christ of Nazareth!"

And calls, in tones of agony,

Ἰησοῦ, ἐλέησόν με !

The thronging multitudes increase;
Blind Bartimeus, hold thy peace!
But still, above the noisy crowd,
The beggar's cry is shrill and loud;
Until they say, "He calleth thee!"

Θάρσει, έγειραι, φωνεί σε !

Then saith the Christ, as silent stands

The crowd, "What wilt thou at my hands?"

And he replies, "O give me light!

Rabbi, restore the blind man's sight!"

And Jesus answers, "Tлα

Ἡ πίστις σου σέσωκέ σε

Ye that have eyes, yet cannot see, In darkness and in misery,

Recall those mighty Voices Three, Ἰησοῦ, ἐλέησόν με !

Θάρσει, έγειραι, υπαγε!

Ἡ πίστις σου σέσωκέ σε !