Poems of Nature, Poems Subjective and Reminiscent and Religious Poems, Complete

VESTA.

     O Christ of God! whose life and death
     Our own have reconciled,
     Most quietly, most tenderly
     Take home Thy star-named child!

     Thy grace is in her patient eyes,
     Thy words are on her tongue;
     The very silence round her seems
     As if the angels sung.

     Her smile is as a listening child's
     Who hears its mother call;
     The lilies of Thy perfect peace
     About her pillow fall.

     She leans from out our clinging arms
     To rest herself in Thine;
     Alone to Thee, dear Lord, can we
     Our well-beloved resign!

     Oh, less for her than for ourselves
     We bow our heads and pray;
     Her setting star, like Bethlehem's,
     To Thee shall point the way!
     1874.