 | Beads from a Rosary |  |
81
FAREWELL TO GRIEF
We have had enough of sorrow—
Let us wipe the tears away;
We have groaned beneath the sackcloth,
Let us don a garb more gay;
Let us leave the place of shadows,
Let us greet the laughing day.
Let us wipe the tears away;
We have groaned beneath the sackcloth,
Let us don a garb more gay;
Let us leave the place of shadows,
Let us greet the laughing day.
In the perfume of the flower
We may find a healing balm;
Many a grief doth sink to slumber
In the sunshine's blessed calm;
And the merry birds' sweet singing
Oft doth soothe like holy psalm.
We may find a healing balm;
Many a grief doth sink to slumber
In the sunshine's blessed calm;
And the merry birds' sweet singing
Oft doth soothe like holy psalm.
82
While we wander by the river,
On its waters let us pour
All sad thoughts, that it may bear them
To some dark and distant shore;—
Take thy freight, oh shining river,
Take, and bring it back no more.
On its waters let us pour
All sad thoughts, that it may bear them
To some dark and distant shore;—
Take thy freight, oh shining river,
Take, and bring it back no more.
And the memory of our sadness,
That, upon the winds we'll fling;—
Oh, swift-journeying winds, delay not,
Spread abroad your fleetest wing,
Ye will come again, but come not
Till a thought of joy ye bring.
That, upon the winds we'll fling;—
Oh, swift-journeying winds, delay not,
Spread abroad your fleetest wing,
Ye will come again, but come not
Till a thought of joy ye bring.
Should we walk with straitened faces
Through a world so fresh and fair?
Gazing up at heaven's expansion
With a look of blank despair—
Breathing all our inward darkness
Out upon the sunny air?
Through a world so fresh and fair?
Gazing up at heaven's expansion
With a look of blank despair—
Breathing all our inward darkness
Out upon the sunny air?
83
Nay,—this tombing earth doth cover
Many a smitten hope, I wot;
But, above it, hopes unblighted
Still are left to cheer our lot;—
Shall we see His terrors only,
And His mercies be forgot?
Many a smitten hope, I wot;
But, above it, hopes unblighted
Still are left to cheer our lot;—
Shall we see His terrors only,
And His mercies be forgot?
Many voices speak around us—
Bird, and wind, and stream, and tree;
Hearken! nature's utterance telleth
O'er and o'er one tale of glee;
Hearken! by that simple teaching,
Let our souls reproved be.
Bird, and wind, and stream, and tree;
Hearken! nature's utterance telleth
O'er and o'er one tale of glee;
Hearken! by that simple teaching,
Let our souls reproved be.
Let us lift them on the pinions
Of an upward-soaring joy—
Resting not, till, calm and tranquil,
Shelter'd from the world's annoy,
They have wrapped the faith about them,
After-griefs can ne'er destroy.
Of an upward-soaring joy—
Resting not, till, calm and tranquil,
Shelter'd from the world's annoy,
They have wrapped the faith about them,
After-griefs can ne'er destroy.
84
So no thought of dread shall haunt us,
Shades across our path to fling:
So, when smileth beam or blossom,
We an answering smile may bring;
So, when nature's song doth waken,
We with truest hearts may sing.
Shades across our path to fling:
So, when smileth beam or blossom,
We an answering smile may bring;
So, when nature's song doth waken,
We with truest hearts may sing.
| Beads from a Rosary | |