Page:Poems Hoffman.djvu/312

OCTOBER MUSINGS

I sit beside my window,
This dull October day,
And watch the crowd that is passing
Below in the busy street;
I wonder where they are going
And why they pass this way?
The young and the old, the high and the low,
The rich and the poor all meet;
Some arrayed in silks and satins,
Graceful forms and faces fair;
And some are dirty and ragged,
And others look worn with care.
Some are God's children with souls made white,
And hearts that are free from sin,
And our Heavenly Father knoweth His own,
For He see'th the heart within;
And some are hard and cruel,
Some wicked and steeped in shame;
But was it not for sinners
To earth the Saviour came?
He came to lift them out of the mire,
To lead them nearer God;
It was for the groveling worms of earth
That His thorny path He trod.
They are going. Where are they going?
They are passing the livelong day;
Many are in destruction's road
But few in the narrow way.
They are going all from the scenes of earth
To rest in a silent bed;
For no crowds are seen and no sounds are heard
In the city of the dead.
Come, go with me to the lone graveyard
Where so many are silently sleeping;

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