issing minute.

LINES.

If GOD should say to me, _Behold!--
Yea, who shall doubt?--
They who love others more than me,
Shall I not turn, as oft of old,
My face from them and cast them out?
So let it be with thee, behold!_--
I should not care, for in your face
Is all GOD'S grace.

If GOD should say to me, _Behold!--
Is it not well?--
They who have other gods than me,
Shall I not bid them, as of old,
Depart into the outer_ HELL?
_So let it be with thee, behold!_--
I should not care, for in your eyes
Is PARADISE.

THE BLIND GOD.

I know not if she be unkind,
If she have faults I do not care;
Search through the world--where will you find
A face like hers, a form, a mind?
_I love her to despair._

If she be cruel, cruelty
Is a great virtue, I will swear;
If she be proud--then pride must be
Akin to Heaven's divinest three--
_I love her to despair._

Why speak to me of that and this?
All you may say weighs not a hair!
In her,--whose lips I may not kiss,--
To me naught but perfection is!--
_I love her to despair._

A VALENTINE.

My life is grown a witchcraft place
Through gazing on thy form and face.

Now 't is thy Smile's soft sorcery
That makes my soul a melody.

Now 't is thy Frown, that comes and goes,
That makes my heart a page of prose.

Some day, perhaps, a word of thine
Will change me to thy VALENTINE.

A CATCH.

When roads are mired with ice and snow,
And the air of morn is crisp with rime;
When the holly hangs by the mistletoe,
And bells ring in the CHRISTMAS time:--
It's--Saddle, my Heart, and ride away,
To the sweet-faced girl with the eyes of gray!
Who waits with a smile for the gifts you bring--
A man's strong love and a wedding-ring--
It's--Saddle, my Heart, and ride!

When vanes veer North and storm-winds blow,
And the sun of noon is a blur o'erhead;
When the holly hangs by the mistletoe,
And the CHRISTMAS service is sung and said:--
It's--Come, O my Heart, and wait awhile,
Where the organ peals, in the altar aisle,
For the gifts that the church now gives to you--
A woman's hand and a heart that's true.
It's--Come, O my Heart, and wait!

When rooms gleam warm with the fire's gl