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EVEN AS A CHILD

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 19, 1877

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 50, No. 4.

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“EVEN AS A CHILD.”

By Mary A. Davis

“Not as a child shall we again behold her.”—LONGFELLOW.
“Thy children shall come again from the land of the enemy.” —BIBLE.
Even as a child shall we again behold her, The same we cherished in the days of yore; Even as a child our arms of love enfold her, In the bright evermore.
A score of summers have the wild flowers blossomed Above the little grave so far away; A score of winters there the snow-flakes woven Their shining drapery.
Sweet is the promise on the marble graven, That marks the sacred, well-remembered spot,— To their own border shall return thy children; O Rachel, sorrow not.
Those soft blue eyes, within whose crystal fountains The light of Heaven seemed ever mirrored fair, I shall behold on the celestial mountains, When I shall greet her there.
Freed from the weight of pain she bore so meekly, Forevermore shall be our darling there; As if the Saviour’s hand, with touch of healing, Had pressed her shining hair.
Even as she sang, that glad, unsullied spirit, That lingered not to feel the stain of sin, The “golden gates” shall open wide to welcome The “little traveler” in.
She is not lost! but softly, sweetly sleeping, Lovingly folded from earth’s every storm; And tireless vigil is an angel keeping Above our darling’s form.
Soon shall the voice of Heaven’s mighty Angel With trumpet-peal rend the dark caves of earth; Then, in immortal bloom, saith the Evangel, Its prisoners shall come forth.
What rapture ours to watch her sweet unfolding ’Neath friendly skies, within that sunbright clime; To feel again affection’s severed tendrils Around our hearts entwine.
There will be joy beyond death’s gloomy water, Joy to the mother for the years of pain, When, “even as a child,” her little daughter She shall embrace again.
MARY A. DAVIS.
Battle Creek, Mich.