Poems (Curwen)/Easter Thoughts

by Annie Isabel Curwen

Easter Thoughts.

What thoughts, what memories
 Surge through our hearts to-day;
And burning tears bedim our eyes
 E'en as we kneel to pray!

Thoughts of those vacant places
 No other forms can fill;
And memories of loved faces
 Linger with us still.

Almost, it seems we hear
 Those loving tones once more;
For memory retains so clear
 Voices we loved of yore.

But oh! what peace is theirs
 In that sweet Home of Rest,
Beyond life's frets and cares,
 No more by pain oppressed.

For them to die was gain;
 And though we mourn their loss,
Faith, triumphing o'er grief and pain,
 Lightens our heavy cross:

And by its light our tearful eyes
 See far beyond the tomb,
To where the gates of Paradise
 Gleam golden through the gloom.

Safe with their "Risen Lord" we see
 Our dead—hark! how they sing,
"O grave! where is thy victory?
 O death! where is thy sting?"