sleep,
Calm thou may'st smile while all around thee weep.

--From the Persian.

EMMAUS

Abide with us, O wondrous guest!
A stranger still, though long possessed;
Our hearts thy love unknown desire,
And marvel how the sacred fire
Should burn within us while we stray
From that sad spot where Jesus lay.

So when our youth, through bitter loss
Or hopes deferred, draws near the cross,
We lose the Lord our childhood knew
And God's own word may seem untrue;
Yet Christ himself shall soothe the way
Towards the evening of our day.

And though we travel towards the west
'Tis still for toil, and not for rest;
No fate except that life is done;
At Emmaus is our work begun;
Then let us watch lest tears should hide
The Lord who journeys by our side.

NOT NOW BUT THEN

Take the joys and bear the sorrows--neither with extreme concern!
Living here means nescience simply; 'tis next life that helps to learn.
Shut those eyes next life will open--stop those ears next life will
teach
Hearing's office; close those lips next life will give the power of
speech!
Or, if action more amuse thee than the passive attitude,
Bravely bustle through thy being, busy thee for ill or good,
Reap this life's success or failure! Soon shall things be unperplexed,
And the right or wrong, now tangled, lie unraveled in the next.

--Robert Browning.

CHEERFUL OLD AGE

Ah! don't be sorrowful, darling,
And don't be sorrowful, pray;
For taking the year together, my dear,
There isn't more night than day.

'Tis rainy weather, my darling;
Time's waves they heavily run;
But taking the year together, my dear,
There isn't more cloud than sun.

We are old folks now, my darling,
Our heads are growing gray;
And taking the year together, my dear,
You will always find the May.

We have had our May, my darling,
And our roses long ago;
And the time of year is coming, my dear,
For the silent night and snow.

And God is God, my darling,
Of night as well as day,
And we feel and know that we can go
Wherever he leads the way.

Ay, God of night, my darling;
Of the night of death so grim;
The gate that leads out of life, good wife,
Is the gate that leads to him.

For age is opportunity no less