"HADST THOU BEEN HERE MY BROTHER HAD NOT DIED."
By A. M. Richards
"Hadst Thou been here!" O wail of human wo,
Wrung from sore stricken hearts and sadly tried,
At His approach, whose coming seemed in vain,
"Hadst Thou been here my brother had not died." Long years have come and gone, but as we gaze
On homes bereft of loved ones near and dear,
The cry which rose from Bethany's humble cot
Now trembles on our lips: "Hadst Thou been here." "Hadst thou been here," O tender, pitying Christ,
To shield us in temptation's trying hour,
We had not been so nearly overcome,
Our weakness sheltered in thy mighty power. "Hadst thou been here" to pilot our frail bark
O'er shoals and quicksands of life's boisterous
wave,
We should not now have been so nearly wrecked,
"Hadst thou been here" to guide, protect and
save. And as in ages past thy people gazed
With steadfast eyes to see thee go, so we,
With eager, longing hearts, wait thy return,
For as thy going shall thy coming be. O Thou, at whose approach death's shadows flee,
Haste thy return, for every scalding tear
Shall then be wiped away, and pain shall cease,
And darkness shall be light when thou art here.
—The World's Crisis.