Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.
By II. The strongest light casts deepest shadesElizabeth Charles (18271896)
T
The dearest love makes dreariest loss;
And she His birth so blest had made
Stood by Him dying on the cross.
The day and not the night abide,
And all time’s shadows earthward cast
Are lights upon the “other side;”
That darkest hour shall brighten on!
Better than any angel’s “Hail!”
The memory of “Behold thy Son!”
The homage paid at Bethlehem;
But far more blessed evermore
Thus to have shared the taunts and shame—
’Mid mocking crowds, and owned Him thine,
True through a world’s ingratitude,
And owned in death by lips Divine.