Memories by Harriett I. Morse Farnum

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · Jun 13, 1912

Memories

By Harriett I. Morse Farnum

FACES and forms beloved of yore Are changed and gone away, And silence spreads her soft wing o'er The home that was so gay With tender word, with song, with smile, With loving, helpful deeds; But lengthened mile or weary while Were scattered thick with seeds That burst and grow, as to and fro Life's pend'lum swings alone, And mem'ry calls from sacred halls Each word and deed and tone.

Though hid away in dust to-day, Those fragile, transient flowers, Once passing fair with fragrance rare, Still beautify the hours; For bygone brings her hoarded things; And all the lessons taught Come trooping home, nor try to roam, As once—the truant thought!

Though life seemed brief as summer leaf, And men may count them lost, Yet nevermore, while skies bend o'er, Or falls the wintry frost, To earth is goodness lost.

And so we live, and courage give To comrades in the fray, Who'll view through tears the vanished years When we have passed away, No life is brief that lends relief When, stag'ring 'neath a load, Despair assails, hope almost fails, Along a heavy road.

The song we sing, or pain we bring, To lives with ours enwrought, May pass from mind, nor leave behind The tracery it ought; But years and years of joy or tears May waft their balm or sting; No puny pen of mortal men Can half the record bring.

A mighty world of mighty deeds Throngs round us all the time. Thoughts, words, and deeds, like mystic seeds, Attest, at harvest prime, And seal the tome of Time. Then, every sigh will cease, When righteousness and peace, In undisputed sway, Chase all the mists away.

Peterborough, Ontario.