Why should we Weep?
Why should we weep for those we love,
Who in the faith of Christ have died?
Set free from bonds of sin and pain,
They are living still—the other side.
From wave to wave they once were tossed
On this world’s sea, by storm and tide:
Within the haven calm and still
They are resting now—the other side.
When gloomy Jordan roared and swelled,
The great High Priest was there to guide,
And safe above the stormy waves
He bore them—to the other side.
What though their bodies in the earth
We laid to wait the Judgment-tide?
Themselves are fled—they are not there
But living still—the other side.
The winds that murmur o’er their graves,
To us who still on earth abide,
Bring echoes faint of that sweet song
They ever sing—the other side.
What though in spite of rain and dew
The lilies on their grave have died?
The palms they bear can never fade
Nor wither—on the other side.
May we not dream they feel with us
When we by various ills are tried,
That when we triumph over sin,
They triumph too—the other side?
May we not hope that more and more
The day for which we long have sighed
They long for too—that we with them
May praise the Lamb—the other side?
And when we reach fair Sion’s hill,
Where angel hosts in bliss abide,
Shall we not clasp the hands of those
Whom once we lost—the other side?
Then ever with them we shall dwell
By grief untouched, by sin untried,
And join with them in that sweet song
That never ends—the other side.
But friendship there shall purer be,
No love betrayed, no vows denied;
Nor pain nor death shall part us more
From those we love—the other side!