Classic Poem

Round the mountains' lofty summits
Sunset's lingering streamers play,
Evening's cooling breeze refreshes
Weary wanderers on their way.
Daily toil and conflicts ended,
Evening's grateful shadows come;
Sweet the thought that I am nearer
To my true, eternal home.

" One day nearer, " sings the sailor,
Swiftly speeding o'er the sea;
" Nearer home and all its dear ones
Heaven's love hath given me. "
So the child of God sings gaily
As he sails Time's waters o'er,
" I to-day am one day nearer
To my home on Heaven's shore. "

Nearer God and all his angels
Who, through faith, behold his face:
Oh how blest will be the meeting
When with them I take my place!
Precious thought! 'twill bear me onward
Till life's need and griefs are done,
And I prove what there awaits me
When my fleeting course is run.

One day nearer! Oh how cheering
Is the thought, that while I roam
Through this life with all its changing
Lights and shadows, waits my home!
Through the waves of good and evil,
Through the depths and o'er the heights,
Jesus' steadfast promise follows,
And my trusting soul delights.

Nearer still each day advancing
Toward my home beyond the clouds,
Toward the land of love and beauty
Heaven's azure curtain shrouds.
See! through yonder cloudy masses
Streams of light their passage win,
Beaming from the Holy City
And the Lamb of God therein.