"Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee." "Rock of Ages, cleft for me" 'Twas a woman sang them now, Rose the song as storm-tossed bird Beats with weary wing the air, Every note with sorrow stirredEvery syllable a prayer— "Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee." "Rock of Ages, cleft for me❞— Lips grown aged sung the hymn Trustingly and tenderly Voice grown weak and eyes grown dim. "Let me hide myself in Thee." Trembling though the voice and low, Ran the sweet strain peacefully, Like a river in its flow, Sung as only they can sing Who life's thorny paths have pressed; Sung as only they can sing Who behold the promised rest— "Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee." "Rock of Ages, cleft for me." Sang above a coffin lid; Underneath, all restfully, All life's joys and sorrows hid. Nevermore, O storm-tossed soul! Nevermore from wind or tide, "Waiting for Mother." HE old man sits in his easy chair Slumbering the moments away, Dreaming a dream that is all his own On this gladsome, peaceful day. His children have gathered from far and near, His children's children beside And merry voices are echoing through But far away in the years long flown, Grandfather lives again; And his heart forgets that it ever knew A shadow of grief and pain; For he sees his wife as he saw her then A matron comely and fair, With her children gathered around his board And never a vacant chair. Oh! happy this dream of the "Auld Lang Syne," And the old man's lips have gathered a smile But a kiss falls gently upon his brow, The old man wakes at his daughter's call, "There's one of us missing, my child," he says, "We will wait till mother is here." There are tears in the eyes of his children, then, For many a lonely year has passed But the old man pleads still wistfully; Then, leaving a smile for the children here, And has gone to "mother," beyond the skies, 7 Thought. HOUGHT is deeper than all speech, Souls to souls can never teach What unto themselves was taught. We are spirits clad in veils; Man by man was never seen; Heart to heart was never known; Of a temple once complete. Like the stars that gem the sky, In our light we scattered lie; All is thus but starlight here. What is social company But a babbling Summer stream? What our wise philosophy But the glancing of a dream? Only when the sun of love Melts the scattered stars of thought, Only when we live above What the dim-eyed world has taught,— Only when our souls are fed By the fount which gave them birth, And by inspiration led Which they never drew from earth, We, like parted drops of rain, Swelling till they meet and run, Shall be all absorbed again, Melting, flowing into one. |