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TRINITY CHIMES: ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The light of the indian summer
Last Line: Who had no time for prayer.
Alternate Author Name(s): Van Deth, Gerrit, Mrs.
Subject(s): Churches; God; Heaven; Prayer; Trinity, The; Cathedrals; Paradise


THE light of the Indian Summer
Fell soft on bright Broadway,
Where the ebb and flow of commerce
Throbbed swift and strong all day;
And men with anxious thoughts oppressed
Passed on the crowded way.

In the surging throngs were people
With weary, care-dimmed eyes,
Who had half-forgotten the story
Of a heavenly Paradise,—
And, bent with earthly burdens, walked
Unconscious of the skies:

When clear from the old church steeple
A message, silver-sweet,
Like a chorus of angel music,
Thrilled all the busy street;
And "Peace on Earth," the chiming bells
Seemed softly to repeat.

They chimed the tune of Martyrs,
And the air of wild Dundee,
And quaint Balerma's measure,
And Zephyr's harmony;
Then floated o'er that listening throng
"Nearer, my God, to Thee!"

O folding love of heaven,
Calm patience of our God,
That waits to soothe our sorrows
And lift our heaviest load,—
And gives us melodies of home,
To cheer us on the road.

Above the money-changers,
Above the toil and strife
Of all this fretting eagerness,
With which the world is rife,—
Our Father keeps for us in store,
An everlasting life!

Ah! music softly pealing
Through that sun-sifted air,
Your strains brought gifts of healing
To many a heart-ache there;
And men a moment stopped to praise,
Who had no time for prayer.





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