Love, that was earthly, wings
Its flight to holier places;
The dead are sacred things
That multiply our graces.

They whom we loved on earth
Attract us now to heaven;
Who shared our grief and mirth,
Back to us now are given.
They move with noiseless foot
Gravely and sweetly round us,
And their soft touch hath cut
Full many a chain that bound us.

O dearest dead! to heaven

With grudging sighs we gave you, To Him-be doubts forgiven !

Who took you there to save you :— Now get us grace to love

Your memories yet more kindly,

Pine for our homes above,

And trust to GOD more blindly.

ON THE DEATH OF A LITTLE CHILD.

LOVING Shepherd of the sheep!

Thou hast called Thy lamb away,

Safely in Thy fold to keep,

Never more from Thee to stray.

Hard as seems the parting sore,
Hard as seems Thy will to see,

Mine in meekness to adore,

All Thine hand hath laid on me.

Holy JESU, Thou hast borne
In Thy gentle heart my grief,
When Thy soul in anguish torn,
Sought, and sought in vain, relief.
In the Olive-grove bowed down
To the earth in agony:

On the Cross outstretched, alone,
Thou didst drain my cup of woe.

FATHER, may Thy will be done,
Done by me in perfectness,
That united unto Thine,

Mine the prize of blessedness.

JESU, SAVIOUR, learn Thou me
Ever in Thy steps to tread,
Till I lay me down in peace,
And rest within my narrow bed.

HOLY SPIRIT, PARACLETE,
Solace of my every pain,
Grant to me, in mercy sweet,
Thine eternal grace to gain.

Trinity of Love Divine,

FATHER, SON, and SPIRIT blest, Let Thy light perpetual shine; Grant Thine everlasting rest.

Amen.

THE LENGTH OF DEATH.

WEET SAVIOUR, take me by the hand,
And lead me through the gloom;

Oh, it seems far to the other land,

And dark in the silent tomb.

I thought it was less hard to die,

A straighter road to Thee,
With at least a twilight in the sky,
And one narrow arm of sea.

SAVIOUR, what means this breadth of death,

This space before me lying,
These deeps where life so lingereth,
This difficulty of dying?

So many turns, abrupt and rude,
Such ever shifting grounds,
Such a strangely peopled solitude,
Such strangely silent sounds?

Another hour! What change of pain

In this last act doth lie; Surely to live life o'er again

Were less prolix than to die.

How carefully Thou walkest, Lord,
Canst Thou have cause to fear?
Who is that spirit with the sword?
Art Thou not Master here?

Whom are we trying to avoid?
From whom, LORD, must we hide?
Oh, can the dying be decoyed,
With his SAVIOUR by his side?

Deeper, -dark, dark! But yet I follow ;
Tighten, dear LORD, Thy clasp ;
How suddenly earth seems to hollow,
There is nothing left to grasp.

I cannot feel Thee; art Thou near?
It is all too dark to see ;

But let me feel Thee, SAVIOUR dear,
I can go on with Thee.

What speed! How icy-smooth these stones, Oh might we make less haste?

How the caves echo back my moans

From some invisible waste.

May we not rest, dear Help? Oh no,
Not on a road so steep.

Sweet SAVIOUR, have we far to go?
Ah, how I long for sleep.

Loose sand—and all things sinking! Hark,
The murmur of a sea;
SAVIOUR, it is intensely dark,

Is it near eternity?

Can I fall from Thee even now?

Both hands, dear LORD, both hands!
Why dost thou lie so deep, so low,
Thou shore of the happy lands?

Ah, death is very, very wide,
Á land terrible and dry:

If Thou, sweet SAVIOUR, hadst not died,
Who would have dared to die?

Another fall! Surely we steal
On towards eternity :—

LORD, is this death? I only feel
Down in some sea with Thee.

WISHES ABOUT DEATH.

WISH to have no wishes left,
But to leave all to Thee;

And yet I wish that Thou shouldst will
Things that I wish should be.

And these two wills I feel within,
When on my death I muse:
But, LORD, I have a death to die,
And not a death to choose.

Why should I choose? for in Thy love
Most surely I descry

A gentler death than I myself
Should dare to ask to die.

But Thou wilt not disdain to hear
What those few wishes are,
Which I abandon to Thy love,
And to Thy wiser care.

Triumphant death I would not ask,
Rather would deprecate;
For dying souls deceive themselves
Soonest when most elate.

All graces I would crave to have
Calmly absorbed in one,

A perfect sorrow for my sins,
And duties left undone.

All Sacraments and church-blest things
I fain would have around,
A Priest beside me, and the hope
Of consecrated ground.

I would the light of reason, LORD,
Up to the last might shine,
That my own hands might hold my soul
Until it passed to Thine.

And I would pass in silence, LORD,
No brave words on my lips,

Lest pride should cloud my soul, and I
Should die in the eclipse.