tenderness of spirit

Loved this from an old Streams in the Desert:

Deep tenderness of spirit is the very soul and marrow of the Christ life. What specific gravity is to the planet, what beauty is to the rainbow, what perfume is to the rose, what marrow is to the bone, what rhythm is to poetry, what the pulse is to the human heart, what harmony is to music, what heat is to the human body - all this, and much more, is tenderness of spirit to the Christ life. It is possible to be very religious, and staunch and persevering in all Christian duties; possible, even, to be sanctified, to be a brave defender and preacher of holiness, to be mathematically orthodox and blameless in outward life, and very zealous in good works, and yet to be greatly lacking in tenderness of spirit - that all subduing, all-melting love, which is the very cream and quintessence of Heaven, and which incessantly streamed out from the voice and eyes of the blessed Jesus.

I would that I could be

A wound-dresser

Of souls -

Reaching the aching heart,

The tortured mind,

Calming them as the night

Calms tired bodies

When she drops the mantle of sleep

Over the world.

As each cold, glittering star

So might I stand in mine,

But with the warmth of a smile,

On my face,

And in my eyes,

An image of the Soul Divine.