Poems (Dodd)/Brighter Years
BRIGHTER YEARS.
Come, cheer thee, love, for the shades of nightAre fading fast in the early light;The fresh wind wakes and the vapors fly,While the clouds disperse from the rosy sky;And see, o'er the purple hills afar,The blessed beam of the morning star!O, forget the night of thy pain and tears,And look to the dawn of brighter years!
Thou hast watched and wept, and thy cheek is pale,Thy lips are wan and thy footsteps fail;And traces of tears and anguish lie,In the hollow depths of thy faded eye.O, how freely now would I yield my life,Could I bring back joy to my injured wife.There is One above who has marked thy tears,He will bless thee yet with brighter years.
The bloom on thy cheek the rose defied,When I led thee forth a happy bride:Years, sad years, since that hour have flown,And the hue of health from its place is gone: It would ease my heart of a weary pain,Could I call the rose to thy cheek again;Could I wipe away all thy bitter tears,With the cheering hope of brighter years.
Thou wert young and gay when I won thy heart,Thou hast seen the joy of thy life depart;Thou hast met reproach and neglect the while,And gave me back but an angel smile:Thou hast suffered want and many an ill,But thy heart is fond and forgiving still.Let us turn from the past with its grief and tears,And look through the clouds to brighter years.
Oh! thy patient love has been to me,Like an island green in the wide, deep sea;Like a cooling stream to the fevered taste;Or the shady palm in a burning waste.I have wandered long in a gloomy night,Where thy constant love was my only light:Let that light beam through thy silent tears;Let thy heart still hope for brighter years.
From the revel loud where the wine flows free,I have turned again to my home and thee;I have dashed from my lips the poison bowl,And prayed for help to redeem my soul; I have mourned with my spirit bowed in dust,O'er thy wasted hopes and thy broken trust;But I trembling look through repentant tears,To peace restored and to brighter years.
O, ask of Heaven that the sinful one,Whose work of reform is but just begun,May conquer the foe and keep the faith,Through temptation strong, through pain and death.May he strive with the help of Heaven above,To reward thee yet for thy suffering love;May he see thee smiling through blissful tears,And know thou art blest with brighter years.