Classic Poem

F. A. B. AND J. E. C.

Six years have faded since she went away,
Six years for her to live in heavenly places,
To learn the look of blessed angel faces;
Six years to grow as only angels may.

I wonder oft what she is doing there,
By the still waters that for ever flow;
What mighty secrets she has come to know;
What graces won, divinely sweet and fair.

I wonder whom of those that went before,
And those that followed on her shining way,
She has met there in heaven's auroral day,
And if they talk their earth life o'er and o'er.

I think this very morning they are met,
She and one other only three years gone,
In some dear place in heaven secure and lone,
To talk of things they never can forget.

For I am sure that naught of their new life,
No grace or glory that is there revealed,
The fountains of past love has ever sealed; —
That these will ever be with sweetness rife.

I cannot think of them as they are now,
Of the new light that shines upon their faces;
I cannot image forth their angel graces;
And I am glad, so glad, that it is so.

We shall get used to such things by and by;
The angels will not miss the look they wore;
For us they wear the look they wore before;
No other look with that, for us, can vie.

So we will think of them just as they were,
Their voices sweet and all their pleasant ways;
And thoughts like these shall help us through the days
Until we go to meet them where they are.