The days grow shorter, the nights grow longer; The headstones thicken along the way; And life grows sadder, but love grows stronger, For those who walk with us day by day. The tear comes quicker, the laugh comes slower; The courage is lesser to do and dare; And the tide of joy in the heart falls lower, And seldom covers the reefs of care. But all true things in the world seem truer; And the better things of earth seem best; And friends are dearer, as friends are fewer, And love is all, as our sun dips west. Then let us clasp hands as we walk together, And let us speak softly in love’s sweet tone; For no man knows on the morrow whether We two pass on—or but one alone. p. 96THE LAND OF THE GONE-AWAY-SOULS p. 96 Oh! that is a beautiful land I wis, The land of the Gone-Away Souls. Yes, a lovelier region by far than this (Though this is a world most fair), The goodliest goal of all good goals, Else why do our friends stay there? I walk in a world that is sweet with friends, And earth I have ever held dear; Yes, love with duty and beauty blends, To render the earth plane bright. But faster and faster, year on year My comrades hurry from sight. They hurry away to the Over-There, And few of them say Farewell. Yes, they go away with a secret air As if on a secret quest. p. 97And they come not back to the earth to tell Why that land seems the best. p. 97 Messages come from the mystic sphere, But few know the code of that land; Yes, many the message, but few who hear In the din of the world below, Or hearing the message, can understand Those truths which we long to know. But it must be the goal of all good goals, And I think of it more and more, Yes I think of that land of the Gone-Away-Souls And its growing host of friends Who will hail my bark when it touches shore Where the last brief journey ends. p. 98THE HARP’S SONG p. 98 All day, all day in a calm like death The harp hung waiting the sea wind’s breath. When the western sky flushed red with shame At the sun’s bold kiss, the sea wind came.
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