"Alas! too well we know our loss,
Nor hope again our joy to touch, Until the stream of death we cross."
He smiled: "There is no such!"
"Yet our beloved seem so far,
The while we yearn to feel them near, Albeit with Thee we trust they are."
He smiled: "And I am here!"
"Dear Lord, how shall we know that they
Still walk unseen with us and Thee, Nor sleep, nor wander far away?"
He smiled: "Abide in Me."
ROSSITER WORTHINGTON RAYMOND.
Speak low to me, my Saviour, low and sweet
From out the hallelujahs, sweet and low,
Lest I should fear and fall, and miss thee so
Who art not missed by any that entreat.
Speak to me as Mary at thy feet—
And if no precious gums my hands bestow,
Let my tears drop like amber, while I go
In reach of thy divinest voice complete
In humanest affection—thus in sooth,
To lose the sense of losing! As a child
Whose song-bird seeks the woods forevermore,
Is sung to instead by mother's mouth;
Till, sinking on her breast, love-reconciled,
He sleeps the faster that he wept before.
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.
THE SECRET OF DEATH.
"She is dead!" they said to him; "come away;
Kiss her and leave her,—thy love is clay!"