OVER THE RIVER.
33
And lo! they have passed from our yearning hearts,
Who cross the stream and are gone for aye!
We may not sunder the veil apart
That hides from our vision the gates of day;
We only know that their barks no more
May sail with us over life's stormy sea;
Yet somewhere, I know, on the unseen shore
They watch and beckon and wait for me.
And I sit and think, when the sunset's gold
Is flushing river and hill and shore,
I shall one day stand by the water cold
And list for the sound of the boatman's oar;
I shall watch for a gleam of the flapping sail;
I shall hear the boat as it gains the strand;
I shall pass from sight with the boatman pale
To the better shore of the spirit-land;
