The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-10-16
REFORM.
JOHN F. MEADE.

REFORM.
JOHN F. MEADE.
The silence of solitude broods o'er the prison.;
The noise of machine and of hammer is still'd;
The dusk of the eve in the East has arisen;
It moves till my view with its shadow is flld.
No sound to intrude save beneath and above me,
The tread of some prisoner pacing his cell:
So silence and Solitude reign. till they move me
In manner no language has power to tell.
A something has sought me. and seems to be turn
ing
My thoughts to path that is wonderful. bright.
And fills my poor heart with an exquisite yearning,
To move in its splendor and beautiful light:
1t may be tits Conscience who bids me in duty
Re.enter the path have strayed from SO long;
No matter, tits something which glows with such
beauty,
That 1 can but hail its appearance with song.
The scenes of my past life fit ghost-like before me-
And prove. that in life. have played mad part.
A sorrow; it must be regret stealing oerme,
Has sho wn me this truth craven deep in my
heart;
And seeds of faith that were years ago planted
Deep down in my heart at dear mothers knee.
Have burst into bloom; and my nature has painted.
And struggled, and leaped from sins servtude,
free.
Free, free from the chain which cruelty fetterd
A nature vice sorrow could chill
Free, now the mind. tho it may be unletterd.
Which strove at sins bidding that nature to kill.
No more the mad and the passionate yearning
To move in those scenes, which to viciousness
tend;
- For me a new beacon far brighter is burning
Ger scenes. in that path where Hope, Homer,
Peace, blend.
There's pardon for all who sincerely endeavor
To tread in the path God has hedg'd for our feet.
From His throne of mercy no pentent ever
Is turned. tho his sins be with horror replete:
And who have snn'd till His laws were forgotten,
In confidence kneel at His glorious shrine,
And know tho my heart to the should be
rotten.
His Power can cleanse it. for He is divine.
God of my mother! far. far have wandered
Away from Thy teachings so pure and sublime;
The grand single talent Thou gavest I've
squander'd;
Where Satan has beckond in folly and crime.
The clouds that have shadow d my yonng life are
bre aking;
A ray that's consoling gladly behold;
And now and forever, my dark path forsaking,
come back penitent child to Thy fold.
Oh! vainly in sin have sought to find pleasure.
When seeking for JOY, where it never could grow.
Until in my heart there was heaped up measure
OF sorrow, and aching misfortune and woe.
Sick now of sin, renounce the gay revel,
The dark evil path where traveld so bold;
And break from my fetters, forg'd by the devil.
Now praying for pardon. come to the fold.
Then nothing on earth from my duty shall stay me-
The skeptical smile, a cynical sneer,
And gay friends opinions will not let sway me-
And skeptics. and towards and bigots may ieer!
While seek the straight path that is rife with the
story
OF Christ, and friendships that never grow cold;
For, God of my mother Thy precepts and glory
Now call me pentent back to Thy fold.
So let those who still wish the gay pathway travel;
But from its trammels have sworn to be free:
No more with the cares of existence cavil.
For now new emotions surging through me.
And deep in my heart dwells firm resolution
By which my life shall henceforth be controlled
I'll turn to my Savor'and seek absoluton.
And never more stray from His glorious fold.
Our Paper, Warnerville Mass.