| Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916. | | | XVI. Crossed Hands and Closed Eyes
The Master’s Call | | By Henry Alford (1810–1871) |
| | | ‘RISE,’ said the Master, ‘come unto the feast.’ | |
| She heard the call and rose with willing feet; | |
| But thinking it not otherwise than meet | |
| For such a bidding to put on her best, | |
| She is gone from us for a few short hours | 5 |
| Into her bridal closet, there to wait | |
| For the unfolding of the palace gate | |
| That gives her entrance to the blissful bowers. | |
| We have not seen her yet, though we have been | |
| Full often to her chamber door, and oft | 10 |
| Have listen’d underneath the postern green, | |
| And laid fresh flowers, and whisper’d short and soft. | |
| But she hath made no answer, and the day | |
| From the clear west is fading fast away. | | | | |
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