University of Virginia Library

LIGHT.

While I had mine eyes, I feared;
The heavens in wrath seemed bowed;
I look, and the sun with a smile breaks forth,
And a rainbow spans the cloud.

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I thought the winter was here,
That the earth was cold and bare,
But I feel the coming of birds and flowers,
And the spring-time in the air.
I said that all the lips
I ever had kissed were dumb;
That my dearest ones were dead and gone,
And never a friend would come.
But I hear a voice as sweet
As the fall of summer showers;
And the grave that yawned at my very feet
Is filled to the top with flowers!
As if 't were the midnight hour,
I sat with gloom opprest;
When a light was breaking out of the east,
And shining unto the west.
I heard the angels call
Across from the beautiful shore;
And I saw a look in my darling's eyes,
That never was there before.
Transfigured, lost to me,
She had slipped from my embrace;
Now lo! I hold her fast once more,
With the light of God on her face!