I AROSE to depart when the dew of my dawning
Yet shone in thine eyes and thine infantile mirth:
A dark little grave for the baby was yawning.
And death seemed to tread on the track of thy birth.
I had come as a burden, thou couldst not sustain me,
And calmly thy pulse would have throbbed its farewell,
But parents in anguish strove hard to detain me,
And I stayed, while I tried to believe “It is well.”
I flutter’d my pinions, when brighter and dearer
I seemed in thine eyes as a pearl of great worth;
When youth was thy pastime, and hope ever nearer
Brought triumph, success, and the jewels of earth;
But friends were around thee, thy spirit enchaining,
O’er all thy bright prospects, lamenting, they prayed:
Their sighs and their tears my departure detaining,
I stayed, though in doubt and misgiving, I stayed.
Once more I arose, and when manhood’s full glory
Encompassed thy course, would have murmured “Farewell.”
‘Ere blight and decay had embitter’d the story
Thine angel would stand at the judgment to tell:
The arms of thy children around thee were pressing,
The tears of thy wife were like rain on the sod;
I folded my wings with a sigh and a blessing,
And staying, committed thy way to thy God.
Now, careworn and aged, I seek not to leave thee,
Thy glory has perished, thy friendships have flown,
Thy task has been taught, and, though trials may grieve thee,
Thy Saviour has found thee and made thee His own.
The tears of contrition have water’d the flowers
That wildly had sprung ‘mid the briar and weed,
The clouds are not wasted that sprinkle with showers
The dust-cover’d road to the mortal decreed.
I await thy responses of humble thanksgiving,
And cheerful submission to Heaven’s decree:
Thou yet hast to learn the full value of living,
‘Ere meet to enjoy it in higher degree.
Nor yet is the joy of relieving denied thee,
The poor are still with thee, the lame and the blind;
Thou canst speak to the heart of the suff’rer beside thee,
And pray for all desolate types of mankind.
Thus, thus do I linger, I seek not to speed thee
Along the dark valley that looms in thy sight:
Together we pause on the pathway decreed thee,
Together to rise at the dawning of light.
Then bid me not hasten while mercy hangs o’er thee,
But pray that thy strength to thy day may suffice,
O, yet run with patience the race set before thee,
Tho’ we part at the goal, I return with the prize.
(Emily Mary Barton)
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Based on Topics: God Poems, Light Poems, Sadness Poems, Joy & Excitement Poems, Youth Poems, Sense & Perception Poems, Friendship Poems, Flowers Poems, Success Poems, Angels Poems, Birth PoemsBased on Keywords: responses, embitter, encompassed, infantile, misgiving, relieving, enchaining, detaining, dust-cover