Our Guardian Angels and Their Children

Where a river roars in rapids      And doves in maples fret,      Where peace has decked the pastures      Our guardian angels met.      Long they had sought each other      In God's mysterious name,      Had climbed the solemn chaos tides      Alone, with hope aflame:      Amid the demon deeps had wound      By many a fearful way.      As they beheld each other      Their shout made glad the day.      No need of purse delayed them,      No hand of friend or kin -      Nor menace of the bell and book,      Nor fear of mortal sin.      You did not speak, my girl,      At this, our parting hour.      Long we held each other      And watched their deeds of power.      They made a curious Eden.      We saw that it was good.      We thought with them in unison.      We proudly understood      Their amaranth eternal,      Their roses strange and fair,      The asphodels they scattered      Upon the living air.      They built a house of clouds      With skilled immortal hands.      They entered through the silver doors.      Their wings were wedded brands.      I labored up the valley      To granite mountains free.      You hurried down the river      To Zidon by the sea.      But at their place of meeting      They keep a home and shrine.      Your angel twists a purple flax,      Then weaves a mantle fine.      My angel, her defender      Upstanding, spreads the light      On painted clouds of fancy      And mists that touch the height.      Their sturdy babes speak kindly      And fly and run with joy,      Shepherding the helpless lambs -      A Grecian girl and boy.      These children visit Heaven      Each year and make of worth      All we planned and wrought in youth      And all our tears on earth.      From books our God has written      They sing of high desire.      They turn the leaves in gentleness.      Their wings are folded fire.