Poems (Barker)/Retrospection

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For works with similar titles, see Retrospection.
4656084Poems — RetrospectionAlice J. Green Barker
Retrospection.
What have I done in the day that's past?
Whisper it gently, angels of love;
What have I done that will mar the page,
Which tells of my life in the book above?

Say, is the heart which at morn you saw
Pure as it was in the dawnings light?
Have I given cause for smiles or tears?
Answer me, beautiful watchers, to-night.

What is the record you bear away
Up to His many mansions fair?
Would all the acts I've committed, meet
The loving Father's approval there?

Oh! tender guides from that world of love,
Better than all the world beside,
You know of the struggles, the joys and fears,
The hopes that blossomed, the hopes that died,

Tempted and tried, and overcome,
Faltering sometimes e'er I saw the light;
Hoping and fearing, yet trusting him,
How plain I can see it all over to-night.

What have I done in the years that's past?
Or what will I do in the years to come?
Which will cause the Master to smile and say
"Thy work is finished, find rest and home."