ayer, like a perfume from censer,
Ascendeth to God night and day.

In the hush of the Valley of Silence,
I dream all the songs that I sing;
And the music floats down the dim valley
Till each finds a word for a wing,
That to men, like the doves of the deluge
The message of peace they may bring.

But far out on the deep there are billows
That never shall break on the beach;
And I have heard songs in the silence
That never shall float into speech;
And I have had dreams in the valley
Too lofty for language to reach.

And I have seen thoughts in the valley--
Ah, me! how my spirit was stirred!
And they wear holy veils on their faces--
Their footsteps can scarcely be heard;
They pass through the valley like virgins
Too pure for the touch of a word.

Do you ask me the place of the Valley,
Ye hearts that are harrowed by care?
It lieth afar, between mountains,
And God and his angels are there;
And one is the dark Mount of Sorrow,
The other, the bright Mount of Prayer.

--Abram Joseph Ryan.

HELP THOU MY UNBELIEF

Because I seek thee not O seek thou me!
Because my lips are dumb O hear the cry
I do not utter as thou passest by,
And from my lifelong bondage set me free!
Because, content, I perish far from thee,
O seize me, snatch me from my fate and try
My soul in thy consuming fire! Draw nigh
And let me, blinded, thy salvation see.

If I were pouring at thy feet my tears,
If I were clamoring to see thy face,
I should not need thee, Lord, as now I need,
Whose dumb, dead soul knows neither hopes nor fears,
Nor dreads the outer darkness of this place.
_Because_ I seek not, pray not, give thou heed.

PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN

Two went to pray? O, rather say
One went to brag, the other to pray;
One stands up close and treads on high,
Where the other dares not lend his eye;
One nearer to God's altar trod,
The other to the altar's God.

--Richard Crashaw.

A MOMENT IN THE MORNING

A moment in the morning, ere the cares of the day begin,
Ere the heart's wide door is open for the world to enter in,
Ah, then, alone with Jesus, in the silence of the morn,
In heavenly sweet communion, let your duty-day be born.
In the quietude that blesses with a prelude of repose