Classic Poem

" HOPE on, hope ever " — Earth is not so drear,
Nor life a comfortless and empty dream;
The darkest clouds that gather o'er us here
Are not the harbingers we sometimes deem;
For lo! how brilliant the returning ray,
As one by one their shadows pass away!

" Hope on, hope ever " — Is thy heart bereft
Of all that rendered life once dear to thee?
Amid the wreck the quenchless spark is left,
Whose light, though feeble, shall thy beacon be.
Though death's cold hand some kindred tie may sever,
Still let thy motto be " Hope on, hope ever. "

" Hope on, hope ever " — Weary and oppressed,
Care's pallid seal stamped on thy sunken cheek,
There is a haven of eternal rest
Whose sacred joy no mortal tongue can speak.
Look upward in thine hour of dark despair —
Hope points to Heaven, and drops her anchor there.