Poems (Ryan)/The Beautiful Gates of Light

by Mary C. Ryan

THE BEAUTIFUL GATES OF LIGHT.

I would be happy, so happy,
 If I knew on the Saviour's breast,
Safe from the arrows of Satan
 That my soul securely did rest;
I would rejoice in the tempests,
 If there flashed o'er my feeble sight,
Bright gleams, through the shadows of death,
 From the beautiful gates of light.

No more would my soul be weary,
 No more would I languish and pine,
If at the end of life's journey,
 I knew heaven's joys would be mine.
No more would my heart crave pleasures
 That fade like the meteors bright;
I'd turn from delusions of earth,
 To the beautiful gates of light.

I would be happy, so happy,
 If I knew on the Saviour's breast,
Safe from the snares of the tempter
 That my soul securely did rest;
If on life's wild waste a pathway
 Whose trail, though so narrow and straight,
Would lead me through perils and woe,
 To the beautiful gates of light.

When with my gloried vision
 The grandeur of Heaven I see,
I'll sing a glad song of triumph,
 As the bright gates open for me.
Then at the feet of my Saviour,
 Beyond the dark regions of night,
I'll pass from death's shadows to life,
 Through the beautiful gates of light.