Poems (Barker)/In Memory of Marvin Ira Brainard
In Memory of
Marvin Ira Brainard.
Marvin Ira Brainard.
"The silver chain is loosed, the bowl is broken, The noble spirit from the body freed,Rises on wings of faith to peace unspoken; Thine is the gain kind Heaven—and ours the need.
"Oh! holy angels o'er our spirits bending For just a little, ease this anguish wild.Show us the path by which thou art ascending, The pathway of the pure and undefiled.
"Show us the gate through which our darling entered, That for a moment we may follow him.There 'mong the throng of happy angels centered, Our Marvin stands, and all the rest is dim.
"Friends loved and lost are all about him clinging, And perfect peace is shining in his face.And all the happy hosts of heaven are singing, While joy and gladness fill the Heavenly place.
"Bright bloom the flowers, the birds are sweetly trilling And silver bright the crystal waters flow,And every heart with rapturous joy is thrilling, No room is here for tears or gloom or woe.
"Farewell, loved one, we leave you in the glory Of Him who for us meekly bore the cross;Thou'st found the truth of that dear oft told story, 'Tis ours alone, to bear the pain and loss.
"That loving heart, that beat with tender feeling, And o'er the pain of others deeply bled,Beats with the joy of Heaven, and softly stealing To our crushed spirits, says, "he is not dead."
"Not dead! but gone, a little while before us— Not lost! but waiting in the blessed light.His love will like an angel hover o'er us And make all Earth and Heaven more fair and bright.