Poems (Frances Elizabeth Browne)/On the anniversary of my birthday

by Frances Elizabeth Browne

ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF MY BIRTHDAY.

God of my life! another year
 Of that short life is past,
And this, for aught that I can tell,
 May be decreed the last.

As wave is urged on wave,
 Year after year rolls by,
Bearing me onward to the shores
 Of bright eternity.

Eternity, or wished,
 Or feared, must come;
Beyond earth's narrow bounds
 Is placed our home.

Whether the golden bowl
 Unbroken shall remain,
Whether the silver cord
 Its links unsnapped retain,

Till nature yield
 To time's all-powerful sway,
And the tired spirit gently quit
 The tottering clay,—

Or whether, ere the charms
 Of life are fled,
The fatal shaft of death
 Lay low my youthful head,—

Is only known to Him
 Who reigns above,
But who extends to all
 A father's care and love.

Whether the coming year
 Be doomed to be
A year of peace and joy,
 Or fraught with misery,

I know not, and 't were vain
 For me to know
What portion I 'm assigned,
 Of joy or woe.

He who the sparrow's fall
 Deigns to decree,
Yet rules the monarch's fate,
 Will care for me.

He, to whose piercing eye
 A thousand years are one,—
He will appoint my lot
 And mark my span!

He will appoint?—he has,
 Ere time began;
E'en I was not o'erlooked
 In Heaven's bright plan.

The meanest child of earth
 May—must—sustain
Some one connecting link
 In time's great chain.

He in his wisdom planned
 My course through life;
He saw if I should fall
 Or conquer in the strife.

He knows the soul he formed,
 He hears each feeble prayer
Which, when to Heaven breathed,
 Finds entrance there.

He knows the heart he framed,
 Each feeling ere it rise;
He sees each struggling tear,
 He hears its sighs.

He knows each blessing's worth,
 He knows each trial's power,
Sustaining strength imparts
 In sorrow's hour.

Through every scene of life
 His guardian care extends,
Nor with this fleeting breath
 His kindness ends.

For when the fluttering pulse
 And closing eye,
In the last mortal hour,
 Call man to die,

If in this lower sphere
 He has performed his part,
Fulfilled his Maker's will
 With single heart,

He bears his spirit hence
 To realms above,
Where it will flourish in the beams
 Of everlasting love.

In his protecting care
 May I confide,
And all my future life
 O, may he deign to guide!