no more gloom.
I am quite contented, and all is best,--
_But the empty bed--and the silent room_!

OUR PETTY CARES

Our petty cares wear on us so,--
More cruel than our great despairs,
More rasping than a mighty woe,
Our petty cares.

Less need of strength hath he who bears
Courageously some stinging blow,
Of Fate which takes him unawares.

Not solitary griefs we know
Induce old age and whitening hairs;
But that malicious, endless row--
Our petty cares.

THE SHIP AND THE BOAT

In the great ship Life we speed along,
With sails and pennons spread.
And tethered, beside the great ship, glide
The mystic boats for the dead.

Over the deck of the ship of Life
Our loved and lost we lower.
And calm and steady, his small boat ready,
Death silently sits at the oar.

He rows our dead away from our sight--
Away from our hearing or ken.
We call and cry for a last good-bye,
But they never come back again.

The ship of Life bounds on and on;
The river of Time runs fast;
And yet more swift our dear dead drift
For ever back into the Past.

We do not forget those loved and lost,
But they fade away like a dream:
As we hurry along on the current strong
Of Time's great turbulent stream.

On and on, and ever away,
Our sails are filled by the wind;
We see new places, we meet new faces,
And the dead are far behind.

Their boats have drifted into the sea
That laves God's holy feet.
But the river's course, too, seeks that source,
So the ship and the boat shall meet.

COME NEAR

Come near to me, I need Thy glorious presence.
Through the dense darkness of this troubled hour
Shine on my soul, and fill it with the essence
Of Thy pervading and uplifting power.
Come near, come near to me!

Come nearer yet, I have no strength to reach Thee;
My soul is like a bird with broken wings.
Lean down from Thy fair height of peace, and teach me
The balm Thy touch to mortal bruises brings.
Lean down, O God, lean down!

Come near, and yet if those eternal places
Hold greater tasks to occupy Thy hands,
Send Thy blest angels whose celestial faces
Smile sometimes on us from the spirit lands.
Send one, send one to me!

I must have help. I am so weak and broken
I cannot help myself. I know not how
That moral force of which so much is spoken
Will not sustain or fortify me now.
I must, I must have help!