The Cry Of A Lost Soul

In that black forest, where, when day is done,     With a snakes stillness glides the Amazon     Darkly from sunset to the rising sun,     A cry, as of the pained heart of the wood,     The long, despairing moan of solitude     And darkness and the absence of all good,     Startles the traveller, with a sound so drear,     So full of hopeless agony and fear,     His heart stands still and listens like his ear.     The guide, as if he heard a dead-bell toll,     Starts, drops his oar against the gunwales thole,     Crosses himself, and whispers, A lost soul!     No, Seor, not a bird. I know it well,     It is the pained soul of some infidel     Or cursed heretic that cries from hell.     Poor fool! with hope still mocking his despair,     He wanders, shrieking on the midnight air     For human pity and for Christian prayer.     Saints strike him dumb! Our Holy Mother hath     No prayer for him who, sinning unto death,     Burns always in the furnace of Gods wrath!     Thus to the baptized pagans cruel lie,     Lending new horror to that mournful cry,     The voyager listens, making no reply.     Dim burns the boat-lamp: shadows deepen round,     From giant trees with snake-like creepers wound,     And the black water glides without a sound.     But in the travellers heart a secret sense     Of nature plastic to benign intents,     And an eternal good in Providence,     Lifts to the starry calm of heaven his eyes;     And lo! rebuking all earths ominous cries,     The Cross of pardon lights the tropic skies!     Father of all! he urges his strong plea,     Thou lovest all: Thy erring child may be     Lost to himself, but never lost to Thee!     All souls are Thine; the wings of morning bear     None from that Presence which is everywhere,     Nor hell itself can hide, for Thou art there.     Through sins of sense, perversities of will,     Through doubt and pain, through guilt and shame and ill,     Thy pitying eye is on Thy creature still.     Wilt thou not make, Eternal Source and Goal!     In Thy long years, lifes broken circle whole,     And change to praise the cry of a lost soul?