 | [Poems by Cary in] The Poetical Works Of Alice and Phoebe Cary |  |
RECONCILED.
O years, gone down into the past;
What pleasant memories come to me,
Of your untroubled days of peace,
And hours almost of ecstasy!
What pleasant memories come to me,
Of your untroubled days of peace,
And hours almost of ecstasy!
Yet would I have no moon stand still
Where life's most pleasant valleys lie;
Nor wheel the planet of the day
Back on his pathway through the sky.
Where life's most pleasant valleys lie;
Nor wheel the planet of the day
Back on his pathway through the sky.
For though, when youthful pleasures died,
My youth itself went with them, too;
To-day, aye! even this very hour,
Is the best time I ever knew.
My youth itself went with them, too;
To-day, aye! even this very hour,
Is the best time I ever knew.
Not that my Father gives to me
More blessings than in days gone by;
Dropping in my uplifted hands
All things for which I blindly cry:
More blessings than in days gone by;
Dropping in my uplifted hands
All things for which I blindly cry:
But that his plans and purposes
Have grown to me less strange and dim;
And where I cannot understand,
I trust the issues unto Him.
Have grown to me less strange and dim;
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I trust the issues unto Him.
And, spite of many broken dreams,
This have I truly learned to say,—
The prayers I thought unanswered once,
Were answered in God's own best way.
This have I truly learned to say,—
The prayers I thought unanswered once,
Were answered in God's own best way.
And though some dearly cherished hopes
Perished untimely ere their birth,
Yet have I been beloved and blessed
Beyond the measure of my worth.
Perished untimely ere their birth,
Yet have I been beloved and blessed
Beyond the measure of my worth.
And sometimes in my hours of grief,
For moments I have come to stand
Where in the sorrows on me laid,
I felt a loving Father's hand.
For moments I have come to stand
Where in the sorrows on me laid,
I felt a loving Father's hand.
And I have learned, the weakest ones
Are kept securest from life's harms;
And that the tender lambs alone
Are carried in the Shepherd's arms.
Are kept securest from life's harms;
And that the tender lambs alone
Are carried in the Shepherd's arms.
And, sitting by the way-side, blind,
He is the nearest to the light,
Who crieth out most earnestly,
“Lord, that I might receive my sight!”
He is the nearest to the light,
Who crieth out most earnestly,
“Lord, that I might receive my sight!”
O feet, grown weary as ye walk,
Where down life's hill my pathway lies,
What care I, while my soul can mount,
As the young eagle mounts the skies!
Where down life's hill my pathway lies,
What care I, while my soul can mount,
As the young eagle mounts the skies!
O eyes, with weeping faded out,
What matters it how dim ye be!
My inner vision sweeps untired
The reaches of eternity!
What matters it how dim ye be!
My inner vision sweeps untired
The reaches of eternity!
O Death, most dreaded power of all,
When the last moment comes, and thou
Darkenest the windows of my soul,
Through which I look on Nature now;
When the last moment comes, and thou
Darkenest the windows of my soul,
Through which I look on Nature now;
Yea, when mortality dissolves,
Shall I not meet thine hour unawed?
My house eternal in the heavens
Is lighted by the smile of God!
Shall I not meet thine hour unawed?
My house eternal in the heavens
Is lighted by the smile of God!
| [Poems by Cary in] The Poetical Works Of Alice and Phoebe Cary | |