One Hundred Modern Scottish Poets; With Biographical and Critical Notices Volume 5

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1884 edition. Excerpt: ... to give--Where effort was fruitless, and wishes were vain. I never shall suffer its shadow again. Never? O never, never again, Never again. I am free, I am free; at last, I am free, As a bird in the air, as a fish in the sea! I shall soar in the light, I shall bathe in the breeze, And choose to my liking my labour and ease, Lord of my arm, my tongue, and my brain, Never to come into bondage again--Never, no never, never again, Never again. I am free, I am free, and far and wide Before me is life with its beauty and pride, Its joys to be reaped, and its deeds to be done, Resistance encountered, and victories won. I leave behind me the dragging chain, Never to fetter my limbs again--Never, no never, never again. Never again. I am free; O free, with a sense and power That fills my heart in this jubilant hour. Yet hopes so new and so glorious cast A deepening shadow along the past, To sadden my joy, as I think in vain On a youth that will never return again--Never, no, never, never again, Never again. SEEKING AFTER A SIGN. Is there no sign in life or death, in heaven, or earth below, Or in the silent soul of man, by which to surely know--To know, without the risk that rests on human argument,--If God has to our fallen race this gospel message sent? Not that I challenge Him for truth, or take His words amiss, Oould I but have a certain sign--a proof that they are His; But dread to trust as God's what may be hut a human groan, A struggling hope, a glowing dream, a longing, like my own. My God, I know this perverse heart, how many ills therein Still shun the judgment of Thy law, and seek delight in ain. But could I know the written word, by some unerring token, To be not word of human writ, but by Jehovah spoken; O, with what grasp my soul...