Poems (Denver)/On the Death of a Friend

by Mary Caroline Denver

ON THE DEATH OF A FRIEND.

"He giveth his belovèd sleep,"
 A calm, enduring, glorious rest,
From which they will not wake to weep,
 But be forever blest.
For thee the victory is won,
 Death's shadowy valley safely passed,
The golden gates been open thrown,
 And thou art safe at last.

Safe, where no more earth's griefs and fears
 Shall haunt the ocean of thy peace,
Where God himself shall dry thy tears,
 And bid thy sorrows cease.
Through regions filled with snares and death—
 Through wanderings dark, and sad, and lone—
To prove their love and try their faith,
 He ofttimes leads his own.

And thou wast proved as few are proved,
 And thou wast tried as few are tried;
Yet was thy true heart never moved,
 But only purified.
For thou didst bear thee nobly well,
 Under affliction's chastening rod;
And when life's arrows thickest fell,
 More humbly walked with God.

Oh, friend beloved! the night is past,
 Gone with its terrors and alarms,
And thou art sheltered, safe at last,
 Within the Saviour's arms.
And through the pastures green, where runs
 Life's peaceful river calm and slow,
He leads thee with his chosen ones,
 And will not let thee go.

O friend! thy course is nobly run;
 With thee life's toilsome day is past;
For thee the victory is won,
 And thou art crowned at last;
Saved with the dead in Christ, who leaned
 In faith upon the promised word,
That they who love him here shall dwell
 Forever with the Lord.