The Inner Chamber

My Beloved, from earth's many voices

Welcome me to Thy seclusion sweet—

Let me still, and restful, and adoring,

Sit with Mary at Thy blessed Feet—

In Thy secret place, alone with Thee,

None beside to hear, and none to see.

Led by wnadering gleams o'er fen and moorland,

What are we, outwearied at our best?

For the heart amidst the world's allurings

Craveth evermore for God and rest—

God and rest—all else the weary load

Of a toiler on an endless road.

Blessed he, who from the strife has entered

God's fair Home of peace for evermore—

Sounds of the great world's confusion murmuring

As the sea upon a distant shore;

Here, ere yet his earthly day is done,

His eternal task of love begun.

In the desert still, yet by the river

Bearing heavenly fruit, a healing tree;

In the Spirit and in truth adoring

Him whom none but eyes anointed see—

Marvels of God's secret place made known

Unto him who dwells with God alone,—

There the lonely heart His sweetness learneth,

Sheltered there beneath the shadowing wings—

In the depths of hidden rest encompassed

By the tender gleams of heavenly things;

Who amidst the world's sad mirth can tell,

What it is apart in God to dwell?