DON'T LET THE SONG GO OUT OF YOUR LIFE.
By Kate B. Stiles
Don't let the song go out of your life;
Though it chance sometimes to flow
In a minor strain, it will blend again
With the major-tone, you know. What though shadows rise to obscure life's skies,
And hide for a time the sun;
They sooner will lift, and reveal the rift,
If you let the melody run. Don't let the song go out of your life;
Though your voice may have lost its trill,
Though the tremulous note should die in the throat
Let it sing in your spirit still. There is never a pain that hides not some gain,
And never a cup of rue
So bitter to sup but what in the cup
Lurks a measure of sweetness, too. Don't let the song go out of your life;
Ah! it never would need to go
If with thought more true and a broader view
We looked at this life below. Oh, why should we moan that life's springtime has
flown,
Or sigh for the fair summer-time?
The autumn has days filled with pæans of praise,
And the winter has bells that chime. Don't let the song go out of your life,
Let it ring in your soul while here,
And when you go hence, let it follow you thence,
And sing on in another sphere. Then do not despond, and say that the fond,
Sweet songs of your life have flown;
For if ever you knew a song that was true,
Its music is still your own. — Kate B. Stiles, in the Transcript.