Poems (Hale)/"Thy memory we will keep,"

by Mary Whitwell Hale

"THY MEMORY WE WILL KEEP."

Yes! we will keep thy memory bright,
 A sweet and stainless gift,—
A spell from sorrow's clouds of night,
 Our yearning hearts to lift.

Thine was a name o'er which to shed
 Our sweetest meed of love.
Too early wast thou called to tread
 Thy radiant path above?

Too early? No. The wish were vain
 By earthly anguish given,
To call thy spirit back again,
 From God, and bliss, and heaven.

For thou hast plumed thy golden wing,
 And sped thy glorious flight,
To stoop thee only at the spring
 Of endless life and light.