Classic Poem

Rejoice that the day of thy life is begun;
Rejoice though the night of the grave cometh on;
For both must be known ere, on heaven's bright shore,
Thou wilt sing with the angels, and sigh nevermore.

Rejoice though the tempest-cloud darkens above,
Though thy hopes may be blighted, and crushed be thy love:
Those hopes yet will blossom, the storm will be o'er,
And thy love be returned where they love evermore.

Rejoice though, through weakness, sometimes thou may'st fall:
For the God who would save thee still rules over all;
The Shepherd still ranges the dark mountains o'er,
To gather the lost, that they sin nevermore

Rejoice! e'en afflictions are joys in disguise,
And tears shall but banish the dust from thine eyes.
Why go about sighing for joys that are o'er?
In God's garner of bliss there are sheaves evermore.

All grief shall depart; and the sorrows of Time
Shall seem but the echoes of some far-off chime;
And the thorns that grew thick in our pathways of yore
Shall change to the flowers that shall fade nevermore.

Rejoice, then, rejoice! for all sorrow and sin,
All the cares of our earth-life, its trouble and din,
All the conflicts of Right with the Wrong, shall be o'er,
And the victors o'er evil rejoice evermore.

Rejoice! where the angels their white wings unfold,
Through the gateways of pearl, o'er the pavements of gold,
Our glad feet shall pass, all our journeyings' o'er,
And we'll rest in the land where they weep never-more.

Rejoice! for the souls it was bliss here to know
Shall greet us again when from hence we shall go;
And the songs that together we'll sing on that shore
Shall have for their chorus, " Rejoice evermore. "