WHEN shall I join the blessed company Of those this barren world to me denies? When shall I wake to the new day's surprise, Beyond the murmur of death's moaning sea, In that glad home where my best loved ones be; And know that I have found my Paradise, Finding again the love that never dies The heart's dear welcome, biding there for me? I wait alone upon life's wind-swept beach -- The waves are high -- the sea is wild and wide -- Yet Death, bold pilot, all their wrath shall dare, And guide me to the shore I fain would reach: -- Even now I hear the swift, incoming tide, Whose slow, eternal ebb my bark shall bear. |