The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1890-01-23
[For the Marietta Journal. !
THE CLOSING SCENE.

" er tue nllltopS TAR away,
Shedding beams of undim'd glory
At the closing of the day.
As the last ray like an arrow
Pierced the vale of coming night,
With 1t came white robed Angel
In a pure and holy light
Just beyond the misty meadow
In lowly cottage room,
knelt mother by the bedside
As if kneeling to her doom;
On the cot her boy lay dying
Slowly came his heated breath.
As he sighed and family murmured
Tell me mother is this death p
Backward from his boyish forehead
Lay The damp brown curls Of gold;
! While the mother there beside him
of the loving savior told.
Plalntlvely the sweet voice falters
AS the tears come hot and fast.
Telling of the anguished bosom
And the will borne down at last.
Mother, came the whisper softly
As the feeble futtering breath,
Told the light of Life was floating
Floating slowly on to death
Then kiss your soldier boy goodbye
Do not weep SO, although youthful
He is not afraid to die"
Oft, he in the fercest battle
Fought amid the lannon's roar;
While his comrades fell around him
Vauquished by the coming foe.
But he went to meet them bravely,
With beating heart and flashing eye;
And the star of hope rose higher
Like sweet Venus in the sky
And as he stood among the fallen
Beneath the flags bright wavering hue;
Backward turned his thoughts dear mother
Back to home and back to you.
For he knew that you were waiting
While al around seemed wrapped in gloom
With patience born of heaven
Waiting for your boy to come
And he came-but eh my mother,
Not bravely as he went that day;
With firm and steady footstep-
Proudly in his suit of gray.
And when fate grim, unrelenting,
Flashed the sabre through his breast
Plying tears fell for your mother
But he murmured God knows best.
For he knew that he was faithful
He had fought with courage high;
Faithful as the bow of promise
In the blue eternal sky.
But closer bend my mother, closer
Lay my head upon your breast
Angels bright shall bear me upward
Where the weary are at rest.
Then the last, sweet beam of sunlight
Resting on the dying boy
Seemed to form crown of radiance
As tremblingly it fades away.
See that guardian Angel softly
Bends, with snowy wings outspread,
As with tender hands she guides him
In the way that light has fed.
Backward glides the shining portals
See they beckon from afar;
As they gladly enter eden
Enter through ''the gates ajar."
Hark among the signing branches
Comes the low sweet notes OF Love,
Waited from the harps of anthems
Touched by Angels hands above.
All that tender, fearful mother,
Who but God in heaven can tell
What that rending blow has cost her,
AS the quickening heart taeo5s swell |?
As the purest gems of ocean
Lie fathoms meath the sparkling crest,
Thus, countless depths of Love lies buried
Deep, deep within that mothers breast
But mother, just beyond the shadows.
Where the bells of heaven toll,
There again will all be reunited
Heart to heart and soul to soul.
Nother, let your trus. be anchored
AT the bar, where peace is given;
Anchored With faith unchanging-
And you will meet your boy in heaven.
n 1
May God clasp you to His loving breast
And kindly take you home to rest.
RUBY GRAY LOTION.