The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1901-03-14
GREETINGS OVER THERE.

Alas, my steps are weak and weary but
They bear me onward to the land of rest !;
One precious heart of love awaits noe
there.
And when at last l reach that blissful
shore,
How beatifc will the greetings be-
AS when mother = heart warns with
delight
Or breaks to ecstacy, over a child
Returned, when hope had darkened to de-
spair;
AS when some loved one, tossed by wind
and wave,
Sails into port, and, perils of the voyage
Ger past, sets foot upon his native soil,
While friends, with joyous welcome, hail
him theirs:
Or as a traveller sick with absence, turns
His quick steps toward his home to find
His fireside and the dear ones gathered
there,
Nor wants, for all the gilded world can
give,
It's glory and its pomp. to wander more;
But with Thanksgiving for a safe return,
With vows renewed and re-enkindled love,
Drains the full cup of the sweet wine of
bliss
Such will our meeting be, so full of joy,
And such our greeting, too, on that bright
shore;
For we have companoned together long
Upon the earth and shared for many
years
A strange vicissitude of veal and woe.
Our leshly lives are parted for while,
But still in sweet communion we are one;
No distance of unmeasured space, no
AS years and months and days are cal
endared
In our chronology, can keep us long apart.
Not long. OF my departure there are
The cables loosen and the anchors weigh.
| My soul awaits the signal bell, anxious
To turn its PROV out to the boundless sea
Of being, and with radiant hope plunge
Into the wilderness of waters, well as
surcd
OF piotage The skies may smile or
frown,
| The winds may ride the ocean in storm,
Or hide themselves in mountains or in
caves,
| The passage homeward may be full of
cheer,
Or fearful with the angry tempest rage;
What matters it, A simple faith is mine
A faith unblenching when the cordage
strains,
And sails are rent and towering masts go
down
A steadfast faith that trusts my piotage.
Mistaken, Say not so. Is this dream?
Does nothing answer to our faith and
hope?
Do loves, once burning with a fervent
flame
Die down to ashes and so out forever?
Has God, in His wise ordering of things,
But Knocked us with delusion ana pre-
tenSe2
And when our dear ones leave US, and
farewcls
Fall heavy on our sorrow-strickcn hearts,
And hushed the battle-music Of the strife,
And in the instant of our poignant pam,
a sense of loss bears In upon our hopes,
AS some wild wave from out the vastly
deep
Dashes destructive on a rock-bound
coast
Is nothing left save sad sense Of wreck,
And shall we say that everything is
And doubling, shall we wrap ourselves
In mantled gloom and, nishtmared by our
grief,
Forbear such folly, all within me cries.
And every voice in Gods vast universe
Responds. Unnumbered souls a radiant
throng,
Redeemed and marching onward into life,
Departed, fiinging back their loud huzzas
OF victory, as conquerors from the battle
come,
Or quiet in the hush Of sweet reposo,
Laid down ut nightfall to eternal rest;
A mighty host from times first breaking
day,
Prophets and priests and martyred ones
of old
And all the commouality Of saints
Whose voices echo to our listening ears,
All these and all i'm Gods vast universe,
The midnight stars, great systems as
they swing,
The glory of creations wondrous train,
All answer-Life is one and we shall live.
Let unbeief forbear its mutterings;
Faith antedates the glorious world to
come,
And Whispers of the joyous greetings
IL
V, N. Simons, in Springfield (MassD
Republican.