'O, eine edle Himmelsgabe ist
Das licht des auges.'—Schiller
Our little Ella, with her love and light,
Made our sweet home a happy paradise,
Till all at once a shadow rose to blight
The deep blue lustre of her laughing eyes.
Slow, slow it came, still widening its abode,
But slower still the truth grew on our mind,
Till, after one heart-prayer to our God,
We woke, and found our little darling blind.
Then what deep pain was daily ours to see
Those eyes, that were so large and full and sweet,
Turn blank and dim, nor light with childish glee
To hear, at night, the coming of our feet.
She did not murmur, though her lips would grieve
And question still, in all their silent pain,
'When shall this darkness go away, and leave
The sunshine, and the long, broad fields again?'
This pass'd away through time, and then she took,
By turns, strange snatches of her former mirth,
And her face brighten'd, not with the old look,
But bright enough to cheer our sadden'd hearth.
Her footsteps, hush'd for many a weary day,
Began to stir, and round the little room
She patter'd, feeling her uncertain way,
With tiny hands before her in the gloom.
Then, when it grew familiar to her tread,
She ventured out, and by the lowly door
Sat, with the sunshine falling on her head
From the blue skies that she would see no more.
Or, if her sisters brought her flowers, whose breath
Told of the wood and meadow, she would smile,
And weave them into some fantastic wreath,
Guessing their colours as she wove the while.
Then, when she finish'd, she would rise and trace
Her way back to her seat upon our knee,
Present the flowers, and look up to our face
As if those dear blind eyes of hers could see.
And, sitting there in quiet all alone,
Dread thoughts within our breast would whisper still,
'Hast thou a future shaped for thy blind one?'
And then with sudden tears our eyes would fill.
God's ways are best, nor know we how He leads
Our spirit unto His: the woes He sends
May seem in His large eyes but golden threads
To lead us gently back to holier ends.
So when we lay our darling down to rest,
And by her little bedside bow to pray,
He so works with His love within our breast
That all our doubts and shadows flee away.
And lo, within the future's sunny scope,
Our little Ella, our blind darling, stands,
And by her side an angel, bright as hope,
Leading her ever on with sister hands.