Heart Songs

<h2><SPAN name="THE_PRODIGAL" id="THE_PRODIGAL"></SPAN>The Prodigal</h2> <div class="poetry"> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0"><span class="letra">T</span>HEY sat alone by the fireside, a couple old and gray,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Brooding over a sorrow keen at the close of a winter’s day.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The woman spake to the man at length, tenderly, wistfully,<br/></span> <span class="ig">“The pillar of fire still guides by night, the cloud still guides by day.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">If you would but take the ills of life, the losses, the sorrow vain,<br/></span> <span class="i0">To the One whose ear is open to hear each cry of pain!<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">You are thinking now of Willie, the boy we loved so well,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And who left his home to wander&mdash;whither&mdash;Ah, who can tell!<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">His room stands just as he left it&mdash;I go upstairs each day<br/></span> <span class="i0">And smooth the pillows with my hands, and for my darling pray.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_227" id="page_227"></SPAN>{227}</span><br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">He may not have&mdash;sometimes my heart grows fairly sick with dread&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">In cold, or storm, or in sickness, a place to lay his head.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">My heart would break did I not know the Father of us all<br/></span> <span class="i0">Stoops down to make my sorrow less, counts all the tears that fall.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">You will not turn where comfort lies, towards Him you will not move,<br/></span> <span class="i0">O husband, give the Lord your heart&mdash;prove, prove His faithful love.”<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="ig">“If I had sought the Lord,” said he, “when youth and strength were mine,<br/></span> <span class="i0">I might have had to cheer me now as dear a faith as thine.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">But God is just, His laws so stern, I’ve broken year by year,<br/></span> <span class="i0">God is a judge&mdash;I feel that now&mdash;just, holy, and severe.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">I scorn to seek Him after all the years I’ve walked in sin&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">’Tis too near to life’s ending now for me to just begin.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_228" id="page_228"></SPAN>{228}</span><br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">My heart lies heavy in my breast, but I must bear my load,<br/></span> <span class="i0">My pride has kept me all along a sad and dreary road.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Yes, I’m thinking, wife, of Willie, the boy who went away&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Thoughts of him fill the heart of me when comes this time of day.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">I watch you praying for his soul, a light in your dear e’e,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Methinks a soul from heaven itself might well come back to see.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">But I&mdash;I cannot pray at all; the words they will not come,<br/></span> <span class="i0">My soul rebels and will not bow&mdash;<i>my boy is far from home</i>.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">My lad I was so proud of, though often I was stern,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Wilful was he, but ah, to-night for his presence I yearn.”<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">There’s a step on the walk outside, trembling hands at the door,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And some one is kneeling by them, sobbing out o’er and o’er:<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_229" id="page_229"></SPAN>{229}</span><br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="ig">“Father, your prodigal has come, unworthy of your name,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Broken in spirit, buffeted, baptised with bitter shame.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">But say <i>forgiven</i>, and lay your hand on me in the old way;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Pride kept me long from you, but I had to come home to-day.”<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Such a welcome he got from them&mdash;the old love changeth not,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Faithful to death, unswerving&mdash;miracles hath it wrought.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The father turned a glowing face, and whispered: Let us pray,<br/></span> <span class="i0">My pride has kept me long from God, but I’ll go home to-day.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">And then with the firelight shining, leaving his heavy load,<br/></span> <span class="i0">A prodigal old and hoary came tremblingly back to God.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">He knew the truth, deep as the sea, high as the heaven above,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Knew that the Fatherhood of God was made and crowned with Love.<br/></span></div> </div></div> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_230" id="page_230"></SPAN>{230}</span></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />