By FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER, D.D.
1
How shalt thou bear the Cross that now
So dread a weight appears?
Keep quietly to God, and think
Upon the Eternal Years.
2
Austerity is little help,
Although it somewhat cheers;
Thine oil of gladness is the thought
Of the Eternal Years.
3
Set hours and written rule are good,
Long prayer can lay our fears:
But it is better calm for thee
To count the Eternal Years.
4
Rites are as balm unto the eyes,
God's word unto the ears:
But He will have thee rather brood
Upon the Eternal Years.
5
Full many things are good for souls
In proper times and spheres;
Thy present good is in the thought
Of the Eternal Years.
6
Thy self-upbraiding is a snare,
Though meekness it appears;
More humbling is it far for thee
To face the Eternal Years.
7
Brave quiet is the thing for thee,
Chiding thy scrupulous fears;
Learn to be real, from the thought
Of the Eternal Years.
8
Bear gently, suffer like a child,
Nor be ashamed of tears;
Kiss the sweet Cross, and in thy heart
Sing of the Eternal Years.
9
Thy Cross is quite enough for thee,
Though little it appears;
For there is hid in it the weight
Of the Eternal Years.
10
And knowst thou not how bitterness
An ailing spirit cheers?
Thy medicine is the strengthening thought
Of the Eternal Years.
11
One Cross can sanctify a soul;
Late saints and ancient seers
Were what they were, because they mused
Upon the Eternal Years.
12
Pass not from flower to pretty flower;
Time flies, and judgment nears;
Go! make thy honey from the thought
Of the Eternal Years.
13
Death will have rainbows round it, seen
Through calm contrition's tears,
If tranquil hope but trims her lamp
At the Eternal Years.
14
Keep unconstrain'dly in this thought,
Thy loves, hopes, smiles, and tears;
Such prison-house thine heart will make
Free of the Eternal Years.
15
A single practice long sustained
A soul to God endears:
This must be thine--to weigh the thought
Of the Eternal Years.
16
He practises all virtue well,
Who his own Cross reveres,
And lives in the familiar thought
Of the Eternal Years.
[37] "It appears that Newman thinks so highly of that poem ["The
Eternal Years"] that he asked to have it sung to him during his
recent illness, and remarked: '"Lead, Kindly Light" are the words of
one seeking the truth. "The Eternal Years" are those of one who has
found it.'"--May, 1889, Grant Duff's _Notes from a Diary_.
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Transcriber's Notes:
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal
signs=.
All footnotes and endnotes have been reorganized into a single
system of sequentially numbered footnotes.
Every effort has been made to replicate the text as faithfully as
possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other
inconsistencies.
Obvious punctuation errors and minor printer errors repaired.
Both Eleison and EleÔson appear in text, left as originally printed.