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Ada Cambridge - A Sermon
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Midsummer, 1867.

We have heard many sermons, you and I, 
    And many more may hear, 
When sitting quiet in cathedral nave, 
With folded palms and faces meek and grave;— 
    But few like this one, dear. 

We ofttimes watch together `fore the veil, 
    With reverent, gleaming eyes, 
While priestly hands are busy with the folds,— 
And pant to see the holy place, which holds 
    Life`s dreadest mysteries. 
We watch weak, foolish fingers straying o`er 
    The broidered boss, to grasp 
Vaguely at some small end of thread, and twist 
And shake the glorious pattern into mist, 
    And leave us nought to clasp. 

We watch, with eyes dilated, some strong hand 
    Of nerve and muscle, trace 
The grand, faint outlines, erewhile undefined 
To our slow earth-enfolded sense, and find 
The great design—the shadow from behind— 
    Dawning before our face. 

But seldom do we see, dear, you and I, 
    The pattern melt in light, 
And all the shine flow out on us, uncheck`d— 
With eyes of soul and not of intellect— 
    As we did see that night. 
It was a summer-night—the sun was low, 
    But overlaid the sea, 
And made gold-crystals of the wet sea-sand, 
And drew our shadows short upon the strand 
    That stretched out shallowly. 

It was a Sunday night—far off we heard 
    The solemn vesper-chime 
From some grey wind-swept steeple by the shore, 
Chanting "For ev-er-more! for ev-er-more!" 
    While the deep sea beat time. 

We wandered far that night, dear, you and I, 
    We wandered out of reach,— 
Until the golden distances grew grey, 
And narrowed in the glory, as it lay 
    `Mid horizon and beach. 

We wandered far along the lonely waste, 
    Where seldom foot had trod; 
The world behind us dared not to intrude— 
The summer silence and the solitude 
    Were only filled with God. 

We sat down on the sand there, you and I, 
    We sat down awed and dumb, 
And watched the fiery circle fall and fall 
Through solemn folds of purple, and the small 
    Soft ripples go and come. 

There was not wind enough to stir the reeds 
    Around us, nor to curl 
The sheeny, dimpled surface of the deep; 
The waters murmured low, as half in sleep, 
    With measured swish and swirl. 

Two sea-birds came and dabbled in the pools, 
    And cried their plaintive cry, 
As their strong wings swept o`er us as we sat 
(No profanation of the stillness that, 
    But added sanctity). 
They flecked the crimson shallows with black streaks, 
    Low-wheeling to and fro, 
Crying their bold, sweet cry, as knowing well 
It was a place where God, not man, did dwell— 
    A father, not a foe. 
    
    *

Ah, we hear many sermons, you and I— 
    The poor words fall and drown; 
But this, whose speech was silence, this has stirred 
The stream of years,—and aye it will be heard 
    As when that sun went down!
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