MATINS

MATINS

Francis Sherman

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BOSTON
COPELAND AND DAY
MDCCCXCVI

CONTENTS

At the Gate
A Life
At Matins
Ave
The Foreigner
Cadences
Easter-Song
The Rain
A Memory
Among the Hills
To Summer
The Path
The Last Flower
After Harvest
Heat in September
On the Hillside
Summer Dying
A November Vigil
Nunc Dimittis
Between the Battles
The Quiet Valley
The Kingfisher
The Conqueror
The King's Hostel
Between the Winter and the Spring
The Mother
The Window of Dreams
The Relief of Wet Willows
The Builder
Te Deum Laudamus

AT THE GATE

Swing open wide, O Gate,

That I may enter in

And see what lies in wait

For me who have been born!

Her word I only scorn

Who spake of death and sin.

I know what is behind

Your heavy brazen bars;

I heard it of the wind

Where I dwelt yesterday:

The wind that blows alway

Among the ancient stars.

Life is the chiefest thing

The wind brought knowledge of,

As it passed, murmuring:

Life, with its infinite strength,

And undiminished length

Of years fulfilled with love.

The wind spake not of sin

That blows among the stars;

And so I enter in

(Swing open wide, O Gate!)

Fearless of what may wait

Behind your