MY FRIEND. 425 My Friend. IDE by side we are still, though a shadow SIDE Between us doth fall; We are parted, yet are not parted, Not wholly and all. For still you are round and about me, Though I miss the old pleasant communion And I long to hear what you are seeing, Since the earth faded out from your vision, Since you dropped off the darkening fillet. And opened your eyes upon glory Though little my life has accomplished, I have lived what seemed to be ages Since the time when our path grew so narrow That I turned back from following after, For we speak of you cheerfully, always, Not as one who is dead do we name you- For how could we speak of you sadly, Of eternity's wonderful beauty Grew over your face? Do we call the star lost that is hidden Do we fashion a shroud for the young child Yet behold! this were wise to their folly When a soul that is summoned believing, PHOEBE CAREY. A A Year in Heaven. YEAR uncalendared; for what Its dole of moments entereth not That circle, mystic and sublime, Whose unreached center is the throne As but an everlasting now. The thought removes thee far away,- Ah, let me hold thee as I may, And count thy time by earthly years! A YEAR IN HEAVEN. A year of blessedness; wherein Not one dim cloud hath crossed thy soul; No frail mortality's control: A year of progress in the lore That's only learned in Heaven; thy mind Hath left the realms of doubt behind; As held it here in needful thrall: God's mysteries court thy questioning soul, A year of love; thy yearning heart 427 For thou those hands' dear clasp hast felt, Which wears the scars the thorns have made. A year without thee; I had thought Before the human grief I bear; To miss thee so, then drown the wail A year of tears to me; to thee, The portal of immortal life: To thee the palm of victory given.— Enough, my heart! thank God! thank God! That thou hast been a year in Heaven. ANONYMOUS. A Year in Heaven. NE year among the angels, beloved, thou hast been, ON One year has heaven's white portal shut back the sound of sin; And yet no voice, no whisper comes floating down from thee, To tell us what glad wonder a year of heaven may be. A YEAR IN HEAVEN. Our hearts before it listen,-the beautiful closed gate: 429 Thou lovedst all things lovely when walking with us here: Now from the heights of heaven seems earth no longer dear? We cannot paint thee moving in white-robed state afar, Heaven is but life made richer; therein can be no loss: To meet our love and longing thou hast no gulf to cross: No adamant between us uprears its rocky screen; A veil before us only:-thou in the light serene. That veil 'twixt earth and heaven a breath might waft aside: And half we feel thee leaning from thy deep calm of bliss, To say of earth, "Beloved, how beautiful it is! The lilies in this splendor,—the green leaves in this dew ;O earth is also heaven, with God's light clothed anew !" So, when the sky seems bluer, and when the blossoms wear Some tender mystic shading we never knew was there, We'll say "We see things earthly by light of sainted eyes: She bends where we are gazing, to-day, from paradise." Because we know thee near us and nearer still to Him |