The herald., 1898-01-09
THE HERALD'S MUSE
When We Lay Our Burden Down

When We Lay Our Burden Down
The day is slowly fading in the west
The last faint CLEANS Of rosy light,
Affrighted, fly before the dropping wing
| of night
, All, how we fear the night!
Pale, spectral, somber night. The bird
Creeps closer to the sheltering wall;
The grazing cattle homeward turn,
To seek the shelter of the winter barns;
And Virtue hides within the halls or men
| Nor dares to face the dreadful form
Vice
| That boldly stalks abroad
| To cloud the destiny of man.
Faint and far. across the shadowy fields,
| / hear a mother calling to her child,
! Come home!
And so, dear soul of mine.
| We've reached the bound OF life
| When 1 must lay my weary burden down
And thou and must part
Thou to the realms of endless day,
And l, l know not whittier.
| I've led thee many a weary chase
Adown the vanished years, with vain am
bitions,
And my foolish search for happiness;
Yet l feel thou wilt not leave me
Lone and comfortless, like stranded bari
Upon windswept shore, that only hear:
The frenzied voices of the passing storm
Dear child of mine!
Frail tenement Of earthly clay!
Tis true l love thee WELL and now
That thou are weary with the weight o.
years.
And thy flesh is trembling to decay,
1 love thee best of all.
For well 1 know that some day,
Weary with this mortal strife.
Gladly thou would'st turn to me.
The blessed life beyond these shadows din
l. too, shall enter, glad and free.
Like an eagle soaring to its own
Not dwarfed and crippled in the quest fol
gain,
For thou hast kept thy heart unsullied
From the sordid things of earth:
Thou hast loved music. poetry and art;
Thou hast not sold thyself and all thy
hopes
For gold, which heartless men,
For their own selfish ends,
Make more scarce. more dear.
So that some desperate. hapless mortal,
Looking down the long, dim vista of his
years,
Sees only at the end pittance small
A loveless, unknown. pauper's grave
Seeks by unholy means to grasp
A measure OF this barter of the world;
That he, too. may for one brief moment
Live the life of idleness and pomp,
And feed his abject soul
On what the world calls happiness.
Nay, thou hast been kind and generous,
For l have heard thee whisper in thy
heart.
When thou hast seen some poor lone
mother
n n m hnr
would God 1 had to give to thee,
Poor toil-worn sailor on lifes troubled
sea-"
For thro' it all. an in It all,
Thy heart was rlgh.
And I have kept record of thy life.
And thy good deeds are written there
In lines of living light.
Some day the Judge of all will say to me,
Give me the record of my child"
His hand will linger long and lovingly
Upon the pages fair; but the leaves
That hold thy wayward past He'll cast
aside
With an impatient hand, and say,
60 blot them out
Remembered 'gainst him they shall be
no more"
For thro' 1t all, and In 1t ALL
His heart was right.
Fear not 1 Will not leave thee desolate,
But some day will come for thee
Will call for thee. and thou shalt hear
And we will live again the old familiar
days.
And sing once more a sweeter son
Than ere we sang in life's fair morn
Nay, nay, l will not leave thee desolate,
Q, soul of mine, thy counsel sweet
Hast calmed my troubled heart;
And we'll know that at theilast
Thou canst not leave me with such rude
haste
That will bring terror to my heart
And anguish to my feeble limbs;
But thou wilt sing some sweet, angelic
song
That we have loved In days of old.
And I shall go to sleep;
And thou wilt steal away so gently
That I shall never know;
But l will still sleep on and on
Until some day the resurrection cry
VIII pierce the hollow chambers of my
brain,
No matter where I lie
Stretched cold and bare upon the noun
tain's top
Or, parched and shrunken on the desert
sand,
Or, white and naked, on the oceans breast:
And l will wake, will rise,
VIII stretch my arms to thee
Tho all the powers of Earth and He'll
Shall strive with flendish hate
To crush me down.
Yea, will rise to thee,
And clasp thee to my breast.
To dwell with thee forever!
A