328 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Till the balance shall be even 

 Swings the to and fro of strife ; 

 . Till an awful equilibrium 



Stills it, beats the Heart of Life. 



What's the text to-day for reading 

 Nature and its being by ? 



Effort, effort all the morning, 

 Through the sea and windy sky. 



AFTERNOON. 



Purple headland over yonder, 

 Fleecy, sun-extinguished moon, 



I am here alone, and ponder 

 On the theme of Afternoon. 



Past has made a groove for Present, 

 And what fits it is : no more. 



Waves before the wind are weighty ; 

 Strongest sea-beats shape the shore. 



Just what is is just what can be, 



And the Possible is free ; 

 'Tis by being, not by effort, 



That the firm cliff juts to sea. 



With an uncontentious calmness 

 Drifts the Fact before the "Law ; " 



So we name the ordered sequence 

 We, remembering, foresaw. 



And a law is mere procession 



Of the forcible and fit ; 

 Calm of uncontested Being, 



And our thought that comes of it. 



In the mellow shining daylight 

 Lies the Afternoon at ease, 



Little willing ripples answer 

 To a drift of casual breeze. 



Purple headland to the westward ! 



Ebbing tide and fleecy moon ! 

 In the "line of least resistance " 



Flows the life of Afternoon. 



