Classic Poem

ADDRESSED TO HIS WIFE .

The light has flown from your home hearthstone,
Its song is hushed and its flowers are dead;
And, all alone, in your grief and moan,
You listen in vain for a dear one's tread.

His place is there, and his empty chair,
The pictures he prized and the books he read,
And memory brings from her precious things
The tender tones of the words he said.

But his face, so bright with love's own light,
Comes never in through the open door,
And your sad heart pines, as the day declines,
For the loving voice you may hear no more.

He clasped your hand in a fairy land,
All rife with the hopes and dreams of youth,
And his every thought, with affection fraught,
Was laid on the altar of trust and truth.

And down the years, with their smiles and tears,
Through all the sorrows and joys of life,
Next to his love for the Lord above,
He cherished his darling, his own true wife.

Faithful and strong to redress the wrong
That threatened the home-land loved so well,
He led a host, not counting the cost,
Where the best and bravest fought and fell.

Day after day, on the world's highway,
He walked in the light of a noble fame,
And time will write on his tablets bright
The glorious deeds that crown his name.

His race was run in the storm and sun;
His soul was ripe for a higher life:
To die was gain, and his heart's last pain
Was the thought of leaving his child and wife.

With blessed trust in the Lord, all just,
And true to the promise His love has given,
He left the earth, with its dust and dearth,
For his beautiful home prepared in heaven.
*****

His work begun below will be done
Where pain and sorrow have no control;
And his love so pure will live and endure,
And grow with the growth of his deathless soul.