38
A STORY OF OLDEN TIME.
At length she raised a calm, glad face, and looking upward drew
A long, deep, blissful breath—again—again—for now she knew
The token,—it was Pain and Life together that withdrew.
The sun brake solemn. "There," she spake, "I see the golden gate.
But not the word that shone for me so long above it—'Wait!'
Now with this sprinkling on my soul, this Baptism, I go
Where evermore from shore to shore the blissful waters flow;
I see them flash in sudden light, I hear them as they roll,
The billows of the flood wherewith our God makes glad the soul;
There, by that river of delight, on goodly branches grow
All fruits of pleasantness and peace, we failed to find below;
All blossoms withered in our heat, or blighted by our frost;
All things we missed and did not mourn; all things we loved and lost:
There, O my husband! there this love of mine, that was not given
To bless thee on the earth, will bide, stored up for thee in heaven!"
A long, deep, blissful breath—again—again—for now she knew
The token,—it was Pain and Life together that withdrew.
The sun brake solemn. "There," she spake, "I see the golden gate.
But not the word that shone for me so long above it—'Wait!'
Now with this sprinkling on my soul, this Baptism, I go
Where evermore from shore to shore the blissful waters flow;
I see them flash in sudden light, I hear them as they roll,
The billows of the flood wherewith our God makes glad the soul;
There, by that river of delight, on goodly branches grow
All fruits of pleasantness and peace, we failed to find below;
All blossoms withered in our heat, or blighted by our frost;
All things we missed and did not mourn; all things we loved and lost:
There, O my husband! there this love of mine, that was not given
To bless thee on the earth, will bide, stored up for thee in heaven!"
