Anticipations

Departed ones, that shine afar,
My earthly life is hasting through;
And soon, beyond the circling star,
Shall wing its raptured way to you.

Oh come, and meet me in my flight,
Oh come, and take me by the hand,
When first I greet celestial light,
And tread the new, the heavenly land.

Long years have worn my furrow'd brow,
And stained my cheek with many a tear;
But that is past, and brightly now
I see the land of glory near.

Dear sharers of my joys and tears,
Not dead, but only gone before!
Friends of my past, my early years,
Oh, meet me on the shining shore.

— Christ in the Soul (1872) LXXV.

Oh Love! Thou Day-Star of My Heart!

Oh love! thou day-star of my heart!
Ascend upon thy throne!
Victor and lord, where' er thou art, 

To all within the power impart,
Of life to God alone.

Such is the magic of thy sway
Upon the holy mind;
That sin, all powerless in thy ray,
Departs, as night-shades flee the day,
And leaves no cloud behind.

My soul was dark in other years;
The stain was on my brow;
And something whispers to my fears
The loss of all but sin and tears,
If thou should'st leave me  now.

But fears are gone, and tears are bright,
Lit with the beams of love:
There is no sin, nor grief, nor night,
To him, whose inmost soul is light
With radiance from above.

— American Cottage Life (1850).

The Light is Rising O'er the Sky.

THE light is rising o'er the sky:
The dews are fading from the hill;­
But where's the joyous light to dry
The tears, that from my heart distil?

Tears, deep and hidden in their spring;
And well may those who weep despair,
If there's no sun or star to bring
Some ray of hope and comfort there.

E'en when thou speakest, see the light,
Oh sinner, brighter than the day;
And let the beam that cheers thy sight,
Its gladness to thy heart convey.

When angels sung "good will to men,"
Its splendor shone o'er Bethlehem's plain;
And shining now as bright as then,
It cheers the mourning soul again.

— American Cottage Life (1850).