"Jesus, tender shepherd, hear me,
Bless Thy little lamb to-night,
In the darkness be Thou near me,
Keep me safe till morning light."
Then there was the "good-night" to everyone and the fond kiss of the
best of all mothers, the sinking into sleep that billowed and rocked
the weary young spirit of him, crushed and bruised by the forces of the
world, and finally the sweet shy smile of a young girl blushing and
awkward, but flooding his soul with happiness and thrilling every fiber
of him with her magic as she stood upon the hill crest, outlined against
the sunset with a soft breeze blowing, kissing the gray hill side,
bringing perfumes from every corner of the moor and beckoning him as she
rose upward, he followed higher and higher, the picture taking shape and
becoming more real until it merged into spirit.
And the creeping moss moved upward, hungry for its prey and greedy to
devour the fine young body so fresh and strong and lusty; but it was
balked, for it claimed only the empty shell. The prize had gone on the
wings of an everlasting happiness and the spirit of the moor, because
there is no forgetting, triumphed over the spirit of destruction, so
that in the records of the spirit he shall say:
"I shall remember when the red sun glowing
Sinks in the west, a gorgeous flare of fire;
How then you looked with the soft breeze blowing
Cool through your hair, a heaving living pyre
Fired by the sun for the sweet day's ending;
I still shall hear the whirring harsh moor-hen,
Roused from her rest among the rushes bending
I shall remember then.
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