Sunset by R. A. Gilstrap

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 13, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 36.

Sunset

By R. A. Gilstrap

By R. A. Gilstrap

WHEN my life's sun at last is fully set, When all is dark and silent round my tomb, And earthly scenes are faded from my sight, I wonder if, for all my toil and fret, For all my blindly groping through the gloom, Some soul may have a greater share of light.

When I have done the task that's given me, When He who gave has taken back my soul, And God's true record has been signed and closed, I wonder if the record then shall be,— When all our present trials backward roll,— "He did his best, tho Satan oft opposed."

Is there a task that I have left undone? A little kindly word I left unsaid? A stroke for truth I did not make, but should? Then, Father, grant that at the setting sun, My evening sky may still show clear and red, Impute to me not what I did, but would.

And O, think not upon the times I slipped, Upon the times I faltered in the strife, But of the character I would have shown. For many were the snares, and oft I tripped, And oft I stumbled, in the path of life, Among the thorns by which it is o'er-grown.

And help me still to know that blame and praise, And all the pleasure human friends may give, And all the recompense of earthly bliss, And all the strife or joy of earthly days, Are only loss when we have ceased to live. Thine approbation, Lord, is more than this. Selma, Cal.