IN THE HEART OF THE WOODS
By Margaret E. Sangster
Such beautiful things in the heart of the woods!
Flowers and ferns and the soft green moss;
Such love of the birds in the solitudes,
Where the swift wings glance and the tree-tops toss;
Spaces of silence, swept with song,
Which nobody hears but the God above;
Spaces where myriad creatures throng,
Summing themselves in His guarding love. Such safety and peace in the heart of the woods,
Far from the city's dust and din,
Where passion nor hate of man intrudes,
Nor fashion nor folly has entered in,
Deeper than hunter's trail hath gone,
Glimmers the tarn where the wild deer drink;
And fearless and free comes the gentle fawn,
To peep at herself o'er the grassy brink. Such pledge of love in the heart of the woods!
For the Maker of all things keeps the least,
And over the tiny floweret broods,
With care that for ages has never ceased.
If He cares for this, will He not for thee—
Thee, wherever thou art to-day?
Child of an infinite Father, see—
And safe in such gentlest keeping stay.