Poems (Angier)/Questionings

by Annie Lanman Angier

QUESTIONINGS.

Which will it be? ah, which will it be?
O! which in our sweet, sweet home of three,
Will first hear the dip of the Boatman's oar,
The Boatman that rows to the other shore?

Which first will the grave's dark mystery learn?
Which two to the lonely home return?
O'er whose breast first will the violets spring,
And the birds their matins and vespers sing?

Which first o'er the silent sea will sail?
Whose feet first tread the shadowy vale?
Which first will join the angel throng?
Whose voice first blend in their joyous song?

Whose hand will first sweep a golden lyre?
Which first heed the mandate "Come up higher?"
Who first will be missed from the vacant seat?
Which first will walk the shining street?

Who first will the robe of the ransomed wear,
In a land where they never know grief or care?
Which first will pass through the pearly gate,
Where the loved for the loving ones smiling wait?

Whose eyes will first gaze on the crystal sea,
And the place where the many mansions be?
Whose lips will first echo the glad refrain,
Of no more night, and no more pain?

Which first will it be? in earth, air, sky,
Will none to my questioning heart reply—
As noiselessly steal away weeks, days, hours,
Still ripening the fruits and unfolding the flowers:

Till chill winds of Autumn their beauty shall blast,
And Winter her snowy shroud over them cast?
I waited and hearkened in stillness unbroken,
Till deep in my soul, were these mentor words spoken—

"What matter to thee, in thy sweet home of three,
Which first shall set sail on the silent sea?
Heed, listen, and learn—the stars blaze and burn,
They rise, fade, and vanish, each, all in their turn:

Like them, let thy pathway be luminous, bright,
Unresting, live only for God, and the Right;
And seek not to fathom this deep mystery—
For Time shall yet tell thee—which first it will be!"