Mourn Not the Dead.

Otago Witness, Issue 1813, 20 August 1886, Page 32

Mourn Not the Dead.

Mourn not the dead, for those departed Have found the rest we seek in vain; A solace for the broken-hearted, A calm for pain. For those who have the river forded (While on the brink we stand forlorn) Weep not! If all could be recorded Ye would not mourn. If tears must flow, to ease the aching, For self alone then ye must grieve; That you are still your sentence takiug. While a reprieve Has come for those ye oft saw weeping. Tears like the tears you shed to-day, Rejoice to think that God is keeping For happier day. All ye mourn dead are not dead, but walking In a serener clime than ours, And with light hearts are sweetly talking Among the flowers. j Here we have thorns, tired feet, sore aching; Our happiest hour, like theirs, will be When from earth's gloom to sunlight waking, We too are freo To die—to feel hard chains that bind us Unloosen, and the long deep smart That 'neath the cloak of calm did find us, Die from the heart; To feel the hunger from the soul departing, And the deep thirst to cense, Then shall we know that life's long smarting Was sadder far than this. Then mourn not death in hopeless mourning. To live till sweet springs dry, And night, so long, seems without dawning , Is sadder than to die. To feel the hope in all things perish, And no responsive cry Come when you call, from one you cherish, Is sadder than to die. To live so long your faith is broken In all toh counted true and fair, Each sad, dim year is but a token 'Tis better to be there; There—where they are that ye are weeping, While they no longer sigh, Death is another name for sleeping, Who would not wish to die ?