University of Virginia Library


240

POOR MAN'S SUNDAY.

The merry Birds are singing,
And from the fragrant sod
The Spirits of a thousand flowers
Go sweetly up to God:
While in His holy temple
We meet to praise and pray
With cheerful voice, and grateful heart,
This Summer Sabbath Day!
We thank thee, Lord, for one day
To look Heaven in the face!
The Poor have only Sunday;
The sweeter is the grace.

241

'Tis then they make the music
That sings their week away.
O, there's a sweetness infinite
In the Poor Man's Sabbath Day!
'Tis as a burst of sunshine,
A tender fall of rain,
That set the barest life a-bloom;
Make old hearts young again.
The dry and dusty roadisde
With smiling flowers is gay;
'Tis open Heaven one day in seven,
The Poor Man's Sabbath Day!
'Tis here the weary Pilgrim
Doth reach his House of Ease!
That blessëd House, called “Beautiful,”
And that soft Chamber, “Peace.”
The River of Life runs through his dream
And the leaves of Heaven are at play;
He sees the Golden City gleam,
This shining Sabbath Day!
Take heart, ye faint and fearful,
Your cross with courage bear;

242

So many a face now tearful
Shall shine in glory there;
Where all the sorrow is banisht,
The tears are wiped away;
And all eternity shall be
An endless Sabbath Day!
Ah! there are empty places,
Since last we mingled here!
There will be missing faces
When we meet another year!
But, heart to heart, before we part,
Now altogether pray
That we may meet in Heaven, to spend
The Eternal Sabbath Day!