Thy burst of penitential grief!
Heaven those tears did surely send.
Tears give the burdened heart relief;
Dry anguish may its tendrils rend.

Sin soon will crucify our Lord,
Thy sin, and all the world's beside.
He gave himself, the Living Word,
Our shelter from God's wrath to hide.
Had all the seraphs pens to write
Such love upon the boundless sky,
Angelic powers could not indite
Its greatness while the ages fly.

The hour is hastening. God has willed
That Christ should through his own decree
Abolish death and have fulfilled
Our blood-bought immortality.
And when the awful tomb he rent,
When freed from every earthly thrall,
"Tell Peter" was the message sent;
"Tell Peter"--'tis love's tender call.

Peter was martyr to his faith;
His rock, God's son whom he denied;
This faith the key that unlocks death
To realms where joy and peace abide.
"Tell Peter!" Honey drops of love,
Awaking all the choirs of heaven!
"Tell Peter"--angels from above
Shout, "Hear, O earth, and be forgiven!"

THE SLEET

Regal the earth seems with diamonds today,
Gemming all nature in blazing array;
A picture more fairy-like never could be
Than this wonderful icicle filigree.

A crystallized world! What a marvelous sight,
Gorgeous and grand in the March sunlight!
The frost-king magician has changed the spring showers
To turquois and topaz and sapphire bowers.

And what is the lesson we learn from the sleet,
As toiling life's road with wearying feet,
Upward we strive, but failing so oft
In the struggles that bear us aright and aloft?

'Tis this--that the hard breath of winter's chill blast
Alone can this mantle of loveliness cast;
And thus our sharp winds of trial may prove
Angels to weave us bright garments of love.

ANSWERED

Ye realms of beauty from afar,
What speak ye to the saddened soul?
What is the message of each star
As ever ceaselessly ye roll?
Thus do ye answer: "We declare
God's glory; and to you 'tis given
To cast on him your every care,
For he hath wound the clock of heaven."

Ye hoary hills which have looked down
On all the centuries of time,
Have felt their touch without a frown,
And with indifference sublime,
What would ye speak, if understood,
Of life with all i