 | Vigil and vision |  |
71
DER TOD ALS FREUND.
(A PICTURE BY ALFRED RETHEL).
NEAR is the night of thy long day at hand.Past is the Past, with all its joy and dole;
Life's mists are lifting from the appointed goal.
The sunset sleeps upon the slumbering land,
A mellow glory fall'n on sea and strand;
And with his hand of bone, Friend Death doth toll
The bell that parleys with the parting soul:
Almost the hour-glass empty is of sand.
Peace over all the landscape lies without
And peace within upon thy quiet end,
Life and its cares forgotten, hope and doubt,
Its storms all fallen stirless.—Heaven send
That, when my sands of life are running out,
Death by my side, as thine, may stand as friend!
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