GRANDMOTHER | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 12, 1881

GRANDMOTHER.

SHE is old, and weary, and full of cares, And her form is bent, and her step is slow; But she reads her Bible, and prays her prayers, Just as she did in the long ago. And while she sits in the rocking-chair, And reads, or works, as the case may be, I think she is praying the same old prayer She used to offer to God for me.

Though wrinkled, her face is sweet and dear, And her voice, though tremulous, still is strong, And still, thank God, her eye is clear, And sweet as ever her motherly song. Her laugh has the same old silvery ring, And her love shines out in a thousand ways, And it does me good to hear her sing The good old songs of my youthful days.

As slyly I steal to her sunny room, Or listen a while at the half-closed door, And hear her about with her brush or broom, I feel, and must tell her, I love her the more. Her sweet, loving nature is brimming with fun, She holds to her girlhood with heroic stay, And gives out her cheerfulness, just as the sun Illumes the earth, making cheerful the day.

God bless and protect her, our grandmother dear! May she nothing know of the world's wasting strife! Give beauty for ashes, and mellow and cheer And lighten and sweeten the remnant of life. We will tenderly lead her, and love to the last, And cherish the lessons of wisdom she gave, And while we remember the love of the past, We'll gather the roses to lay on her grave.

—Selected.