Poems (Merrill)/In Memory of Appey M. Merrill

by Clara A. Merrill

IN MEMORY OF APPEY M. MERRILL

Who Died Nov. 20th, 1903

Softly, sweetly she is sleeping  Where the slender grasses wave; Daisies bright, their vigil keeping  O'er her calm and peaceful grave. Naught can e'er disturb her slumber— Passed all pain—from sorrow free; Gone from earth, to join the number  O'er the silent, mystic sea.

Sweetly sleep, dear, gentle sister,  Tranquil ever be thy rest,—Yet, ah yet, how we have missed her— Gone from those she loved the best. Gone from the home.—and o'er her pillow  Strewn with flowers, so fair and white Fell tears, and grief like surging billow  Touched the heart with withering blight.

Time can ne'er efface our sadness— Still the heart's filled with despair For the loved one, who in gladness  Made the earth-home bright and fair. Sad the way seems now, and lonely,  As we journey day by day Paths through which she wandered, only  Scattering brightness o'er the way.

Memory points with beckoning finger  Through the mists of long ago To her songs, which sweetly linger  In the hush of twilight's glow—Points to words of comfort, spoken  By those lips so good and true—Tells of her love, so true, unbroken,  And we weep in grief anew.

For the gentle hands lie folded,  And the pure heart now is still; And the brow, in beauty molded  By the Hand of Death, so chill Is now at rest.—Yet visions brightly  Through the misty haze will bring A joy, like whispered promise, lightly  Wafted as on Zephyr's wing.

Visions of that promised splendor  Of a mansion fair, on high; Where, with welcome warm and tender  She will greet us by and by.—By and by—sweet hope, elating— When the Voice that bid dear Appey sleep Shall call us forth, where she is waiting,  Ne'er to part, no more to weep.