I don’t look back, God knows the fruitless efforts, The wasted hours, the sinning, the regrets, I leave them all with Him who blots the record, And mercifully forgives, and then forgets. I don’t look forward, God sees all the future, The road that, short or long, will lead me home, And He will face […]
In that home was joy and sorrow, where an infant first drew breath, While an aged sire was drawing near unto the gate of death; His feeble pulse was failing, and his eye was growing dim— He was standing on the threshold, when they brought the babe to him: While to murmur forth a blessing […]
Thou must be true thyself If thou the truth wouldst teach; Thy soul must overflow if thou Another’s soul wouldst reach, It needs the overflow of heart To give the lips full speech. Think truly, and thy thoughts Shall the world’s famine feed; Speak truly, and each word of thine Shall be a fruitful seed; […]
I think oftimes as the night draws nigh Of an old house on the hill, Of a yard all wide and blossom-starred Where the children played at will. And when the night at last came down, Hushing the merry din, Mother would look around and ask, “Are all the children in?” ‘Tis many and many […]
There is a time, we know not when, A point we know not where, That marks the destiny of men To glory or despair. There is a line, by us unseen, That crosses every path; The hidden boundary between God’s patience and His wrath. To pass that limit is to die— To die as if […]
Children of yesterday, Heirs of tomorrow, What are you weaving? Labor or sorrow? Look to your loom again, Faster and faster Fly the great shuttles Prepared by the Master. Life’s in the loom! Room for it— Room! Children of yesterday, Heirs of tomorrow, Lighten the labor And sweeten the sorrow. Now, while the shuttles fly […]
Tell me not in mournful numbers, “Life is but an empty dream!” For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem. Life is real! Life is earnest And the grave is not its goal; “Dust thou are, to dust returnest,” Was not written of the soul. Not enjoyment, and not […]
A little word in kindness spoken, A motion or a tear, Has often healed the heart that’s broken! And made a friend sincere. A word—a look—has crushed to earth Full many a budding flower, Which had a smile but owned its birth, Would bless life’s darkest hour. Then deem it not an idle thing, A […]
There were six in the room where Death had been; The little dead maid was one, Two were the parents with broken hearts For all they could do was done; Three were the pitying men who came To the house where the dead child lay; And Death was stronger than all of them, For Death […]