Classic Poem

He's better off. " With words like these
Kind friends their comfort try to speak.
None doubts it of a man like him;
Yet far off sound the words, and weak.

The heart that loves is not content,
However well the loved one be,
To have him happy far away,
But cries, " I want him still with me! "

That other country may be fair,
Brighter than aught the earth has shown,
But better any place with him
Than to be left here all alone.

Thus pleads the heart that God has made, —
He cannot blame what he has given, —
For heaven without love could not be,
And, having love, the earth is heaven.

The folded hands, the closing eyes,
The yielding up of failing breath, —
These not the worst: to tear apart
Two hearts that truly love is death .

Since love is all the joy of life,
In earth below or heaven above,
Somewhere, we cannot help but trust,
God keeps for us the ones we love.

Like ships the storms drive far apart
Wide o'er the sea 'neath cloud and sun,
We'll still sail for the self-same port,
And meet there when the voyage is done.

And as we tell the story o'er,
How we were driven by the blast,
More sweet will be those sunny hours
By contrast with the sorrows past.