206

ACROSS THE RIVER.

Then will one approach the brink
With a hand extended,-

One whose thoughts I loved to think,
Ere the veil was rended,—
Saying, "Welcome! we have died,
And again are side by side."

Saying, "I will go with thee,
That thou be not lonely,
To your hills of mystery;
I have waited only
Until now, to climb with thee
Yonder hills of mystery."

Can the bonds that make us here

Know ourselves immortal
Drop away, like foliage sear,
At Life's inner portal?

What is holiest below

Must forever live and grow.

I shall love the angels well,
After I have found them

In the mansions where they dwell,
With the glory round them.

ACROSS THE RIVER.

207

But at first, without surprise,

Let me look in human eyes.

Step by step our feet must go
Up the holy mountain,
Drop by drop within us flow

Life's unfailing fountain.

Angels sing with crowns that burn:
We shall have a song to learn.

He who on earthly path

Bids us help each other,Who his Well-beloved hath Made our Elder Brother,— Will but clasp the chain of love Closer when we meet above.

Therefore dread I not to go

O'er the silent river.

Death, thy hastening oar I know:
Bear me, thou Life-giver,
Through the waters to the shore
Where mine own have gone before !

LUCY LARCOM.

208

BEYOND THE RIVER.

BEYOND THE RIVER.

TIME is a river deep and wide;

And, while along its banks we stray,

We see our loved ones o'er its tide
Sail from our sight away, away.
Where are they sped? They will return
No more to glad our longing eyes.
They've passed from Life's contracted bourn,—
Passed to the blessed realm that lies
Beyond the river.

'Tis hid from view, but we may guess How beautiful that realm must be ;

For gleamings of its loveliness,

In visions granted, oft we see.
The very clouds that o'er it throw
Their veil, upraised for mortal sight,
With gold and purple tintings glow,
Reflecting from the glorious light,
Beyond the river.

BEYOND THE RIVER.

And gentle airs so sweet, so calm,

Steal sometimes from that viewless sphere; The mourner feels their breath of balm,

And soothed sorrow drinks the tear.
And sometimes listening ears may gain
Entrancing sound that hither floats,-
The echo of a distant strain

Of harps and voices' blended notes
Beyond the river.

209

There are our loved ones in their rest:
They've crossed Time's river. Now no more

They heed the bubbles on its breast,
Nor feel the storms that sweep its shore.

But there pure love can live, can last :
They look for us their home to share.
When we in turn away have passed,
What joyful greetings wait us there,
Beyond the river.

ANONYMOUS.

210

FRIENDS IN HEAVEN.

FRIENDS IN HEAVEN.

S distant lands beyond the sea,

When friends go thence, draw nigh, So heaven, when friends have hither gone, Draws nearer from the sky.

And as those lands the dearer grow
When friends are long away,

So heaven itself, through loved ones dead,
Grows dearer day by day.

Heaven is not far from those who see
With the pure spirit's sight,

But near, and in the very hearts

Of those who see aright.

ANONYMOUS.

GONE.

ANOTHER hand is beckoning us,

Another call is given;

And glows once more with angel-steps
The path which reaches heaven.