Classic Poem

Via Crucis, Via Lucis

How sad to the Grave are our feet slowly tending,
The cold form of one whom we loved, on the bier!
What sighs swell our hearts while above him we're bending,
And shudder to think we must part with him here!
Ah, gloomy is life when our friend has departed!
Ah, weary the pathway to travel alone!
There's little remaineth to cheer the lone-hearted
Oppressed with the burden, " the loved one is gone! "

But glad from the Grave are our feet homeward tending,
Though death's cold embraces our Brother restrain!
Hope springs from the hillock above which we're bending,
And whispers, " Rejoice! you shall meet him again!
Death's midnight is sad, but there cometh the morning;
The pathway is dark, but its ending is nigh. "
Then patient we wait for the glorious dawning,
That's told in our emblems of life in the sky!English