Page images
PDF
EPUB

RESIGNATION.

THERE is no flock however watched and tended,
But one dead lamb is there!

There is no fireside howsoe'er defended,
But has one vacant chair.

The air is full of farewells to the dying,
And mournings for the dead;

The heart of Rachel for her children crying,
Will not be comforted!

Let us be patient! These severe afflictions
Not from the ground arise,

But oftentimes celestial benedictions

Assume this dark disguise.

We see but dimly thro' the mists and vapors;

Amid these earthly damps

What scem to us but sad, funeral tapers
May be heaven's distant lamps.

There is no Death! What seems so is transition;

This life of mortal breath

Is but a suburb of the life elysian,

Whose portals we call Death.

[graphic]

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.

She is not dead, — the child of our affection,

[ocr errors]

But gone unto that school

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

In that great cloister's stillness and seclusion,
By guardian angels led,

Safe from temptation, safe from sin's pollution,
She lives, whom we call dead.

Day after day we think what she is doing
In those bright realms of air;
Year after year her tender steps pursuing.
Behold her grown more fair.

Thus do we walk with her, and keep unbroken
The bond which nature gives,

Thinking that our remembrance, though unspoken,
May reach her where she lives.

Not as a child shall we again behold her;
For when with raptures wild

In our embraces we again enfold her,
She will not be a child;

But a fair maiden, in her Father's mansion,
Clothed with celestial grace;

And beautiful with all the soul's expansion
Shall we behold her face.

And though at times impetuous with emotion
And anguish long suppress'd,

The swelling heart heaves moaning like the ocean,
That cannot be at rest,-

We will be patient, and assuage the feeling,
We may not wholly stay;

By silence sanctifying, not concealing,

The grief that must have sway.

A PASSING THOUGHT.

O WHAT a glory doth this world put on For him who, with a fervent heart goes forth Under the bright and glorious sky and looks On duties well performed, and days well spent! For him the wind, ay, and the yellow leaves Shall have a voice, and give him eloquent teachings. He shall so hear the solemn hymn, that Death Has lifted up for all, that he shall go

To his long resting-place without a tear.

« PreviousContinue »