DO NOT DIE TONIGHT.
Written in answer to the poem “If I Should Die Tonight.”
Do not die tonight.
Your friends would sadly miss your pleasant face,
Their joy depart and sorrow take its place,
Their hearts would mourn for one they loved so long,
And solemn hymns displace the joyful song.
Kind loving words might stay their grief awhile,
But naught could take the place of thy sweet smile
If you should die tonight.
Do not die tonight.
Your friends all know how your warm heart doth bleed,
In sympathy and love for all in need,
How oft by kind words and good deeds you prove,
The depth, and strength, and wealth of human love;
Beautiful flowers will bloom by your side,
And all your friends rejoice you have not died,
If you will stay and do not die tonight.
Do not die tonight.
Your wayward friends will all return to you,
Forgetting days when they were not so true,
And eyes that chilled with cold and selfish glance,
Will beam with love and glow with radiance,
And evermore will bless your happy way,
And change your night into bright and cheerful day,
If you will stay and do not die tonight.
Do not die tonight.
Your friends will fondly kiss your sweet white brow,
And dearly love you, warmly love you now,
They know how nobly you have done your part,
How sweet your friendship, true and warm your heart,
Henceforth their love will be more manifest,
So please postpone the day of death and rest,
And do not die, pray do not die tonight.
MEMORIAL LINES
On the death of my niece, Mary McElroy, of Lapeer, Michigan, a bright, intelligent and amiable girl, twenty-one years old.
Grieve not, dear parents, your duty is done,
Your daughter is safe in the land of rest,
You brought into life this beautiful one,
And led her in ways, the wisest and best.