PS nil Class ;T s 35- /r CQEXRICHT DEPOSm './*^ THROUGH A GLASS THROUGH A GLASS By FANNY deGROOT HASTINGS ^ PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM EDWIN RUDGE NEW YOP.K Copyright, 1921, by Fanny deGroot Hastings OEC -7 Id2l 3)C!.A630G11 To Mrs, Kate Y, Remer Because you love and see All lo vely th ings , They bear an ecstasy Akin to wings. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks are due to the editors of The Sun Dial, The Globe and The Junior League Bulletin for permission to reprint poems which originally appeared in their pages. FOREWORD As through a glass and darkly still I read the manuscript of vale and hill, And watch Thy shining words, the stars unroll And rest on Heaven's table like a scroll. With clumsy hand and lifeless tools I try To copy wonders that the silent sky, The radiant earth and man's nobility Hold like a wonder-book for all to see. Where I have failed to write the vision plain, That he who runs may read, erase the stain, And from my tangled words set free The perfect thought original with Thee. CONTENTS Foreword n The League OF Nations ii Fireworks 12 Three White Fingers 13 Bridges 14 My Father's House i/; The Spirit OF Christ 16 To Seers ly Worldlings 18 Prelude in- Simile 20 Tolerance 21 Isolation 22 The Book OF Life 23 Unity 24 Precious Seed • • ^5 Shadow AND Substance 26 MULTUM IN PaRVO 27 To Night 28 To One Who Taught Me How TO Read 29 ToMrs.K.Y.Remer 30 ToLadyAstor, M.P 32 ToSaraTeasdale ^^ Love 34 To Adelaide 35 To A Feathered Friend ^6 The Flower Carts of Spring • • • 37 Autumn Trees 38 Imagination 39 Ten Talents 40 The Presence 41 Charity 42 Fruit 43 Be Still 44 Relatives 45 After Rain 46 Sacrifice 47 Expectancy 48 Heavenly Visitors 49 Vision 50 In Quietness 51 My Words 52 Response 53 Overflow 54 THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS Somewhere under the blazing sun An army weeps. The race is run, But America squanders the prize it won. Shoulder to shoulder men fought and died, And now we draw our skirts aside While the vision they willed us is crucified. Somewhere under the boundless skies An army prays for the blind eyes And feeble hands that fumble the prize. Arise, America, and take Your place with those who are awake To the great issue now at stake. [II] FIREWORKS Pinwheel, sky-rocket, bomb and balloon Burst in the face of the solemn moon; Burst and blaze and sizzle and shriek And dive to the bottom of the clear, cool creek. Towers of tinsel, Babel of sound. Built for a minute, then razed to the ground, Flaunting the toys of their tawdry display On the silent splendor of the Milky Way. Mockers and mimics, what an odd bazaar To hold at the feet of a steadfast star! [12] THREE WHITE FINGERS Woolworth, Metropolitan Life and Bush Ter?ninal Buildings Up through the noise and smoke of sordid things, Yesterday the City's hope and dreams took wings; Mounted from the lips of men tremulous in prayer, Shaped themselves in shafts of stone, crystallized in air. Splendid in the sunshine, luminous at night, Everywhere I go I see these sentinels in white. Up above the cavern street they hold my eye — Three white fingers pointing to the sky. 13 BRIDGES We firmly tread the mighty bridge Above a torrent's rush and roar, And safely on its solid floor We pass from ridge to ridge. Press on, O heart of man; above The troubled waters' noisy flight. Spanning the space from height to height. Our God has swung His love. 14] MY FATHER'S HOUSE The house of cards which I designed And builded yesterday Was razed to earth the night the wind Of God began to play. I shuddered for I thought that I Should be without a home; But He who gave the open sky A blue and starry dome Had fashioned round my house of sod The mansion of His will: Not to destroy, the winds of God Had blown, but to fulfill. [15 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST He moves in quietness by choice His wonders to perform — After the fire and the storm The still, small voice. Unnoticed through Jerusalem He passed on His appointed task, But there was one who made Him ask "Who touched my hem ?" Tumult, war and clamor fill The ages' atmosphere; Yet there are always some who hear The **Peace, be still." Always the spirit walks with men. In crowd or desert place. Who love Him most behold His face Now as then. i6] TO SEERS Dreamer of dreams and seer of visions, Bow not your head for a world's derisions; Upsoaring, mystical, delicate wings Are not for the level of fleshly things. Earth and its human cattle crowds Scoff at the man with his head in the clouds- Scoff but follow the way he leads, And from his vision shape their deeds. Dreamer of dreams, lift but the higher This head. To mortals — their town and its crier, Chronicling time and an acre of sod — Be you the herald of Heaven and God! 17] WORLDLINGS When I fashion in wood and stone — Vassals of wind and fire — They say I'm a workman shown Worthy of hire. When I work with a dream for my tool, And build in the realm of Mind, They call me impractical fool. And draw their blind. [i8 PRELUDE Time cannot hold the greatness of some hearts, Nor this world reap each harvest that it starts; It is sown here by patient, fameless hands, To bloom in the more fertile pasture lands. I have seen greatness, like tomorrow's morn Through the night's darkness struggling to be born, Looking from eyes that have not waked to see The kingdoms of their own divinity. [19 SIMILE Backgrounds are still, but they are not colorless; They do not draw attention to themselves; Instead they frame the actor's dress, Fold the rhythm of a dance Of elves, Hold gestures that entrance The audience come to see — This is their ministry. I know people who are like backgrounds. Accompaniments do not lead, but they are the foundation of song; They help the melodies begin. Sustain their theme, prolong A note that otherwise were mute Or thin. Give substance to the reedy flute That listening worlds may hear no rift — This is their office and their gift. I know people who are like accompaniments, [ao] TOLERANCE Because I cannot see Through others' eyes I am not free To criticise. A million points of view, But all of them Seeking the New Jerusalem. 21] ISOLATION There's a splendid isolation That walks alone with God, That asks no man or nation For pence or parcelled sod; That treads with high elation The path the saints have trod- Unmoved by coronation, Unbowed beneath the rod. [22] THE BOOK OF LIFE Read from the Book of Life, nor cease To search for the line that was written for you When dawn arose with an infinite peace, And the world was new. You may not find it today my friend. But read; what matter an empty age? Your line is there, though it be at the end Of the final page. [23 UNITY When we lift up our hearts in prayer We are at one with all who fare Toward God; we are at one with those Who make the valley yield its rose; With that great host, unseen and seen, Who help to keep God's garden green. 24] PRECIOUS SEED I send out my thoughts like a flock of birds Carrying seed: Divine annointings, unspoken words, My inmost creed. They fall among thorns, on fallow ground. Where the winds blow; But always, O birds in your flight, you have found Some sprout and grow. I send out my thoughts like a flock of birds Carrying seed. 25 1 SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE Part of me lives at home, As roots of a tree Stand in a common loam Eternally. Part of me tosses free As topmost branches rise, Alone and yearningly- Close to the skies. 26 MULTUM IN PARVO Verse should be brief — The treasures of a mine Hammered in every line. Where grows the leaf Too small, too stripped of fame, To bear creation's name ? 27] TO NIGHT I've sung to the King of Day in vain — He pauses but turns away; For why should he heed so slight a strain When a million are sung a day? O queenly Night, unloose your bars, And listen to what I sing; Fashion a frame of the silent stars To capture my song on the wing. 28 TO ONE WHO TAUGHT ME HOW TO READ Do you remember, years ago, the day You took me by the hand, and led me, blind With tears for all the toys we'd left behind, Up to the border of the wood that lay Deserted round the kingdom of my play. And helped my young, uncertain feet to find A pathway to a clearing of the mind. And on to tread the Sages' broad highway? Today I journey with a quickened sense Across the wood we traversed long ago. To the fair plain where fact and fiction grow, And thank you for such rich inheritance — For prophets' friendship and a million more W^ho greet the traveller with open door. [29 1 TO MRS. K. Y. REMER J?id her house at the parti?ig of the road Last night I came to the end of the road, The road I had tramped and knew; And I stood perplexed, for the one road Parted itself in two. Half went left and half went right, And I knew not which to tread. When suddenly I saw your house Greeting me just ahead. And you in the doorway, welcoming And bidding me rest awhile In the arms of the little white house that stands At the end of a mile and a mile. There were warmth and cheer and heavenly peace In the heart of your blest abode. And the dawn that was framed in its window pane Illumined the right road. 30 Homer sings of a friend of man Who answered the inner call, And lived in a house by the side of the road, And ministered unto all. I sing a song for the wanderer, To wish him a friend like you Who lives in a house where the beaten road Branches into two. [31 TO LADY ASTOR, M. P. They have made place for you upon this floor Where never woman's feet have stood before, And men of many minds are listening To hear the maiden message that you bring. You are well armed with freedom's fearless sword; Use it, but never cut the common cord That binds you to the host of womankind That share alike the Anglo-Saxon mind. Across the sea we reach a sister's hand. And send you greetings from your native land. Woman at last speaks face to face with man. As was God's plan. 32] TO SARA TEASDALE After read'uig '' Fia^ne a7id Shadow'''' Your song is like a soft footfall Heard on bright, enchanted ground; We doubt that we have heard at all, So brief, so delicate the sound. Spring has taught you subtle art: You leave us wistful, wanting more; For, having opened wide our heart, You swiftly pass before its door. Kind memory, with power to bless. Come quickly and your stay prolong To bridge this winter's barrenness — The silence between song and song. LOVE Lines w 7- it ten after seeing Miss Jane Cowl in ''Smili?i^ Through''^ Loose them and let them go — Your fear and pride and hate — Then you shall wake to know Love, the compassionate, A presence, a shining grace. That makes the oldest new, That glorifies the face Which it smiles through. The universe for stage, A role for every heart; What if it takes an age To learn your part ? Love is the only real Which was, is, and shall be, Which opens the Seventh Seal — Eternity. 34 TO ADELAIDE Aged oiUy zvho kissed and sent me a narcissus You sent me a flower today, my love, As new to the world as you, As white and as fair as the breast of a dove, And bathed in dew. You sent me only one, my sweet, But a thousand have bloomed from one, With only the soil of my heart for their feet, And vour kiss for sun. Z'^ TO A FEATHERED FRIEND In a cage that my hands had made I prisoned a bird today, In fear that its serenade Should fly away. A song filled space, and was free. How futile are gilded bars To capture an ecstasy That reaches the stars ! Explorer in science and art. Is it true you have never heard That only a wide, wide heart Can circle the song of a bird ? 36 THE FLOWER CARTS OF SPRING Hyacinth, geranium, jonquil and rose — A four-wheeled garden down the bright street goes! Kindly, gracious nature chose to send you down, O caravan of blossoms, to drive about our town, And whisper to the pavement folk that just beyond their gate A million fragrant colored things have shown their heads of late. If we who live on side streets had not caught sight of you How should we know that Spring has come, and all the world is new? 37 AUTUMN TREES Today I lived with autumn trees; And can it be that God made these Less beautiful than Heaven's ov>^n? It seemed to me, out there alone, They breathed a silent hymn of praise For summer's wealth of growing days, For all the warmth at earth's great heart That urged their tender shoots to start Last spring, that every leafy crown Paid golden toll for its renown. And whispered to the setting sun: ''Today His perfect will was done." IMAGINATION When my thoughts weary of noise and crowd, And lose their sense of an Infinite Good, I send them out to think aloud In a deep green wood, Pungent with pine, and fresh with the smell Of cool, wet moss in the early hours, And carpeted deep in a fairy spell Of wee, shy flowers. They bathe in a wide, blue lake close by, And watch the bright birds overhead. And the long, black shadows of tall trees lie On the water's bed. In a flash they are back — -my thoughts — made new With the fragrant freedom of those who roam. And yet their mother is called by you Stay-at-home. 39 TEN TALENTS Light and color everywhere — In the heaven's rainbow hair, In the sunset and the dawn And the flower-covered lawn. Even in the earth's dim heart, When we drill the rocks apart, There are colors that would flout Joseph's coat we read about. Light and color fill all space In this gorgeous dwelling place — One gigantic aureole From the Tropics to the Pole. If your soul would earn its wage On so luminous a stage It must be so shining bright Blind men see it in the night. 40] THE PRESENCE I sought You in the face of every man, And never found You quite; For how can persons visage forth and span The whole of Light ? Each has some grace, but each some shadow too To veil the undimmed radiance of You. Today I walked far from the homes of men, In an unmade land; Deep woods, wide lakes I passed, and then — I saw You stand — One with silence and the hills that brood In ageless peace o'er that vast solitude. [41 CHARITY She walks our unregenerate way With feet that make it clean, And passes through the midst of us Unseen. Unseen as summer's gentlest breeze That comes from a far field Laden with all the fragrance flowers Yield. [42 FRUIT For every gentle summer rain That heaven gives and takes again, Earth has loveliness and grace To bless our human dwelling place. For every beauty that God lends To fill my heart with ecstasy, Let there spring up and bloom in me New forms of fragrance for my friends. 431 BE STILL Silence is more audible than words, And quiet dawn speaks face to face With God before the chorus of the birds Fills space. Lift up the perfect instrument of prayer Before your lips have quivered on its strings, And it shall cleave the still, expectant air Like wings. I 44 RELATIVES I have smelt burning coal, An ancient, dusty tome — And London with its soul Has come into my home. I have smelt flowers, green Moss in the cool of dawn- And Heaven, till then unseen. Has risen from my lawn. 45 AFTER RAIN Who would not pass through storms again For the "clear shining after rain," For the fresh odors that arise, And the bright rainbow in the skies ? I have seen many lovely things, But none to match a rainbow's wings Cleaving the sky's metallic shield Like two-edged sword the angels wield. [46 SACRIFICE I took desire from my heart, And buried it one day, Far from the ears that heed its call, And the feet quick to stray. That year when spring was blossoming I visited the glade; Desire was a spreading tree To give my garden shade. O miracle of Aaron's rod, You live for every child of God. [47] EXPECTANCY As dawn in the beauty of holiness Waits for the day, Serene and secure that his coming None can delay, So would I wait for Thy footsteps- Lord, my delight — All beautiful on the mountains, Bringing me light. 48] HEAVENLY VISITORS Had orchids been sweet-scented At the world's birth, God could not have consented To send to earth Such pure delight. Between The land and sky These strays from Heaven are seen, Poising to fly. 49 VISION My thoughts weary of their home tree And the dried fruit of petty events; Their wings are strong, and they would be One with oceans and continents. I will send them out to the rim of the world To gather beauty near and far, To watch the flag of heaven unfurled, And look out from a star. [50 IN QUIETNESS I will be still as the stars and moon And the quiet pool that frames them, As an open space or thoughts in tune With the mind that claims them. Perhaps the beauty that gives these grace Will draw my hurried ways apart, And find another resting place In you, my heart. [51] MY WORDS My words be like an atmosphere — Transparent, selfless, crystal clear — That lives but to reveal the grace Of objects that its arms embrace. My words be like a midnight sky — Invisible to human eye. But holding as a wonder-frame Stars too numerous to name. My words be like a lake's wide bowl- Claiming no virtue and no soul, But bearing as a loving cup Water that shall raise men up. [52] RESPONSE Deep in the heart of me Many songs live, Never heard, never free. Till one, sensitive As the twig that bends above A long-hidden spring. Finds the fountain of my love. And bids it sing. [53I OVERFLOW Again and again I have promised myself To gather all the songs I've sung, And bind me a little book for the shelf Conveniently hung. But always the day that it comes from press, The little book where my songs belong, I hear in the still of my heart's recess Another song. 54]