p. 10 | Hopes of Heaven by L. D. SANTEE

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 25, 1909

Hopes of Heaven

By L. D. SANTEE

L. D. SANTEE

“Let not your heart be troubled.” John 14:1.

WHEN the bloom and the joy fade out of the heart That no after-days can lend, And the hopes that formed of our lives a part, That we thought would last to the end; When the love that furnished the spirit’s wealth Has gone in the sweep of the years, And the song that the heart sings low to itself Is lost in the blur of tears;

When the days and hours that come to us now, Are sacred unto pain; When sorrow has seamed with its care the brow, And our joys come never again; When friends we trust become hard and cold, And some fall asleep by the way, And we sadly remember them when we are old And wrinkled and bent and gray;

When time has stolen the bloom from the cheek, And the roses come never again; When vanished the joys that we vainly seek, And the heart keeps tryst with pain;

When kisses are pressed on faces white, As they kiss whose hearts are wrung, And the song that the heart sang low in the night Is forevermore unsung,—

Let the darkness and silence softly fall To quiet the heart that breaks; Let the hush of God’s pity cover all, Giving rest to the bosom’s aches. The nightingale sings no more to the rose When the beautiful flower is dead; But God will the joys of heaven disclose When the years of time are fled.

Let the light return to the saddened eye, For the promise sure is given. Though the friends of earth may fade and die, We shall meet them again in heaven; And we wait and watch for the crown- ing day, When no heart is with anguish riven. Though the hopes of earth may fade away, There is hope above in heaven.

Moline, Ill.