Poems (Merrill)/Loved Ones Passed Away

by Clara A. Merrill

LOVED ONES PASSED AWAY

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Within our home so cheerful  Where all is warm and bright; Sometimes our hearts grow tearful,  And to darkness turns the light. We see not the joys that surround us— We heed not our friends bright and gay; For memories come crowding around us  Of loved ones passed away.

Without, the old home is the same,  Yet within, there is a change; And feelings which we cannot name  Steal o'er us, sad and strange. We see the dear forms of long ago,  Illume the twilight gray,—Yet the darksome silence whispers low  Of loved ones passed away.

We see them as we did of yore  In the dear old days long past; Ere they were called to the other shore,— But those fancies cannot last. And though the heart in fondness seeks  To bid them longer stay—Yonder grim churchyard mutely speaks  Of loved ones passed away.