A Golden Wedding Song
Blest are these years of wedded love, —
Gifts which attest God's loving hand,
Bright years in all their varied course,
Like streams that glide o'er golden sand.
These fifty years, — so long, so short,
Ten thousand blessings in their train,
Fraught with unnumbered passing joys, —
Well might we live them o'er again!
The wedding song of love we sung, —
To-day revives the sweet refrain;
Love is undying in its source;
Bridegroom and bride, we live again.
And who are these in stalwart frame;
And these arrayed in sunny curls?
" Our children, and their children fair, —
Pledges of love, our boys and girls "
How blest the way thy feet have trod,
Brother, to whom the trust was given;
To feed the happy flock of God,
And guide the wanderer's steps to heaven.
Nor this alone; the world to thee,
Has opened all its secret heart,
And taught her wonders to explore, —
A miracle in every part.
Happy the pair whose gracious lives
In long enduring love combine;
His, the firm trellis for support,
And hers, the sweet and clustering vine
The fire by night, the cloud by day,
Guided and kept the loving twain;
And storms that swept the desert path
Fell round their tent like gentle rain.
Long may the bow abide in strength!
Oh, linger long thy peaceful days;
Let life be one long wedding feast,
And its whole course, a psalm of praise!
Sing on, sweet singer, while the years
Add to thy honors and thy fame;
Till heaven, on some far distant day,
Bids to the wedding of the Lamb.
A GOLDEN WEDDING.
DR. AND MRS. J. W. PARKER
Fifty full years! — how fair and grand the record!
Fifty full years! with every virtue rife;
Sweetly and sacredly bound to each other,
A faithful husband and a faithful wife!
Bound to each other in devout affection,
Witnessed by loving lives and loving word;
Made nobly one by heaven's divine selection, —
One in each other, one in Christ their Lord!
Bound to each other, whether joy or sorrow,
Sickness or health, prevailed, sunshine or shade;
Skilful from good or ill some boon to borrow,
Each on the other's arm, both on God stayed
Dear herald of the everlasting gospel!
Filled with the grateful memories of the past,
Thanks that thy other self, like God's fair angel,
Is spared to hover round thee to the last.
The last! Oh, no, earth's last is heaven's beginning!
Earth's ties, dissevered, are but joined above;
Earth's service changed to service without sinning,
And earth's imperfect, to heaven's perfect love.
Ye have walked nobly through these earthly shadows,
As years to years were added, sun by sun,
Weaving the threads of life, or dark or shining,
Still one in heart, — in love and purpose one.
God's choicest blessings o'er your heads will hover,
Till the brave warrior wears the conqueror's crown,
Till the tired reaper in the gathering evening,
Released from toil, shall lay the sickle down.
Then shall earth's fifty years, at heaven's bright portal,
No more a symbol, marred by life's dull fever,
Expanding, change into the joy immortal,
And souls, now one on earth, be one forever.
Gifts which attest God's loving hand,
Bright years in all their varied course,
Like streams that glide o'er golden sand.
These fifty years, — so long, so short,
Ten thousand blessings in their train,
Fraught with unnumbered passing joys, —
Well might we live them o'er again!
The wedding song of love we sung, —
To-day revives the sweet refrain;
Love is undying in its source;
Bridegroom and bride, we live again.
And who are these in stalwart frame;
And these arrayed in sunny curls?
" Our children, and their children fair, —
Pledges of love, our boys and girls "
How blest the way thy feet have trod,
Brother, to whom the trust was given;
To feed the happy flock of God,
And guide the wanderer's steps to heaven.
Nor this alone; the world to thee,
Has opened all its secret heart,
And taught her wonders to explore, —
A miracle in every part.
Happy the pair whose gracious lives
In long enduring love combine;
His, the firm trellis for support,
And hers, the sweet and clustering vine
The fire by night, the cloud by day,
Guided and kept the loving twain;
And storms that swept the desert path
Fell round their tent like gentle rain.
Long may the bow abide in strength!
Oh, linger long thy peaceful days;
Let life be one long wedding feast,
And its whole course, a psalm of praise!
Sing on, sweet singer, while the years
Add to thy honors and thy fame;
Till heaven, on some far distant day,
Bids to the wedding of the Lamb.
A GOLDEN WEDDING.
DR. AND MRS. J. W. PARKER
Fifty full years! — how fair and grand the record!
Fifty full years! with every virtue rife;
Sweetly and sacredly bound to each other,
A faithful husband and a faithful wife!
Bound to each other in devout affection,
Witnessed by loving lives and loving word;
Made nobly one by heaven's divine selection, —
One in each other, one in Christ their Lord!
Bound to each other, whether joy or sorrow,
Sickness or health, prevailed, sunshine or shade;
Skilful from good or ill some boon to borrow,
Each on the other's arm, both on God stayed
Dear herald of the everlasting gospel!
Filled with the grateful memories of the past,
Thanks that thy other self, like God's fair angel,
Is spared to hover round thee to the last.
The last! Oh, no, earth's last is heaven's beginning!
Earth's ties, dissevered, are but joined above;
Earth's service changed to service without sinning,
And earth's imperfect, to heaven's perfect love.
Ye have walked nobly through these earthly shadows,
As years to years were added, sun by sun,
Weaving the threads of life, or dark or shining,
Still one in heart, — in love and purpose one.
God's choicest blessings o'er your heads will hover,
Till the brave warrior wears the conqueror's crown,
Till the tired reaper in the gathering evening,
Released from toil, shall lay the sickle down.
Then shall earth's fifty years, at heaven's bright portal,
No more a symbol, marred by life's dull fever,
Expanding, change into the joy immortal,
And souls, now one on earth, be one forever.
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