Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892). The Poetical Works in Four Volumes. 1892.

Personal Poems

Gone

ANOTHER hand is beckoning us,

Another call is given;

And glows once more with Angel-steps

The path which reaches Heaven.

Our young and gentle friend, whose smile

Made brighter summer hours,

Amid the frosts of autumn time

Has left us with the flowers.

No paling of the cheek of bloom

Forewarned us of decay;

No shadow from the Silent Land

Fell round our sister’s way.

The light of her young life went down,

As sinks behind the hill

The glory of a setting star,

Clear, suddenly, and still.

As pure and sweet, her fair brow seemed

Eternal as the sky;

And like the brook’s low song, her voice,—

A sound which could not die.

And half we deemed she needed not

The changing of her sphere,

To give to Heaven a Shining One,

Who walked an Angel here.

The blessing of her quiet life

Fell on us like the dew;

And good thoughts where her footsteps pressed

Like fairy blossoms grew.

Sweet promptings unto kindest deeds

Were in her very look;

We read her face, as one who reads

A true and holy book:

The measure of a blessed hymn,

To which our hearts could move;

The breathing of an inward psalm,

A canticle of love.

We miss her in the place of prayer,

And by the hearth-fire’s light;

We pause beside her door to hear

Once more her sweet “Good-night!”

There seems a shadow on the day,

Her smile no longer cheers;

A dimness on the stars of night,

Like eyes that look through tears.

Alone unto our Father’s will

One thought hath reconciled;

That He whose love exceedeth ours

Hath taken home His child.

Fold her, O Father! in Thine arms,

And let her henceforth be

A messenger of love between

Our human hearts and Thee.

Still let her mild rebuking stand

Between us and the wrong,

And her dear memory serve to make

Our faith in Goodness strong.

And grant that she who, trembling, here

Distrusted all her powers,

May welcome to her holier home

The well-beloved of ours.

1845.