Trouble? dear friend, I know her not. God sent His angel Sorrow on my heart to lay Her hand in benediction, and to say, “Restore, O child, that which thy Father lent, For He doth now recall it,” long ago. His blessed angel Sorrow! She has walked For years beside me, and we two have talked As chosen friends together. Thus I know Trouble and Sorrow are not near of kin. Trouble distrusteth God, and ever wears Upon her brow the seal of many cares; But Sorrow oft hast deepest peace within. She sits with Patience in perpetual calm, Waiting till Heaven shall send the healing balm.
HYMN
FOR THE DEDICATION OF A CEMETERY
Ye Pines, with solemn grandeur crowned, Put on your priestly robes to-day; Henceforth ye stand on holy ground, Where Love and Death hold equal sway.
Lift up to Heaven each crested head, And raise your giant arms on high, And swear that o’er our slumbering dead Ye will keep watch and ward for aye.
For month by month, and year by year, While shine the stars, and rolls the sea, Our silent ones shall gather here, To rest beneath the greenwood tree.
Here no rude sight nor sound shall break The calmness of their last, long sleep, And Earth and Heaven, for Love’s sweet sake, Shall o’er them ceaseless vigils keep.
Our silent ones! Their very dust Is precious in our longing eyes; O, guard ye well the sacred trust, Till God’s own voice shall bid them rise!
YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY
But yesterday among us here, One with ourselves in hope and fear: Joying like us in little things, The sheen of gorgeous insect wings, The song of bird, the hum of bee, The white foam of the heaving sea.
But yesterday your simplest speech, Your lightest breath, our hearts could reach; Your very thoughts were ours. Our eyes Found in your own no mysteries. Your griefs, your joys, your prayers, we knew, The hopes that with your girlhood grew.