In “The Old Armchair” by Frank Barrett

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Mar 23, 1905

In “The Old Armchair”

By Frank Barrett

SLEEP peacefully, my mother; cares have flown, And transient troubles gone; Heed no alarms, nor hear the night-winds moan; I’ll watch, sleep sweetly on.

Could I but lift that burdened life of thine, Much lighter mine would be; Could I escape with all thy care on mine, Much fleeter could I flee.

And yet those rugged hands with weary arms Await thy waking dreams, To soothe some fevered brow and bear the ills, And heal two sorrow’s streams.

Full many a recompense to thee has come For loss of lily hands And tripping feet and glittering glee and fun, As passing pleasure strands;

For love alone is worth the strain of years, As love alone survives. And thou hast gained, through tempest and through tears, Jehovah’s greatest prize.

Who loses love has lost his life, and found The mummy of a man, That wanders through the world a vagabond On Sheol’s border-land.

Sleep then in peace, the strength thy rest will give Will in its turn be given, To gain God’s greater love with which to live, And gild both earth and heaven.

— Frank Barrett, in The American Friend.