 | Things New and Old |  |
91
A Silver Wedding Day.
Five and twenty summers lie behind you in the past,
Since the solemn words were spoken which made you one for life;
Five and twenty summers, coming slowly, fleeting fast,
Binding still, with links of silver, the husband and the wife.
Since the solemn words were spoken which made you one for life;
Five and twenty summers, coming slowly, fleeting fast,
Binding still, with links of silver, the husband and the wife.
Joys and griefs in that dim distance now are blended into one,
Each building up the fabric of the love and peace of home;
Rest and labour, health and sickness, have reared it, stone by stone,
And the house shall stand unshaken, though winds beat and waters foam.
Each building up the fabric of the love and peace of home;
Rest and labour, health and sickness, have reared it, stone by stone,
And the house shall stand unshaken, though winds beat and waters foam.
And your children guard its portals, and the western skies are clear,
And the voice of joy and gladness is heard within the gate;
For the thoughts that make life bitter have found no entrance there,
Nor the wail o'er broken idols, nor the cry of doom “Too late.”
And the voice of joy and gladness is heard within the gate;
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Nor the wail o'er broken idols, nor the cry of doom “Too late.”
Shall the silver pass to golden? Shall faces fresh and gay
Crown the brows of those we honour with the dewdrops of their youth?
Shall the after-glow be brighter than the dawn of orient day,
And the hopes of earlier visions fall short of present truth?
Crown the brows of those we honour with the dewdrops of their youth?
Shall the after-glow be brighter than the dawn of orient day,
And the hopes of earlier visions fall short of present truth?
Ah! we know not, and we ask not; the times are in His hand
Who orders all things well for all loving hearts and true;
And the years shall bring the peace which we cannot understand,
Life's welcome euthanasia, be they many years or few.
Who orders all things well for all loving hearts and true;
And the years shall bring the peace which we cannot understand,
Life's welcome euthanasia, be they many years or few.
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