| Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916. | | | XXX. Sweet Sorrow
Consolations in Bereavement | | By John Henry Newman (1801–1890) |
| | | DEATH was full urgent with thee, Sister dear, | |
| And startling in his speed;— | |
| Brief pain, then languor till thy end came near— | |
| Such was the path decreed, | |
| The hurried road | 5 |
| To lead thy soul from earth to thine own God’s abode. | |
| |
| Death wrought with thee, sweet maid, impatiently:— | |
| Yet merciful the haste | |
| That baffles sickness;—dearest, thou didst die, | |
| Thou wast not made to taste | 10 |
| Death’s bitterness, | |
| Decline’s slow-wasting charm, or fever’s fierce distress. | |
| |
| Death came unheralded:—but it was well; | |
| For so thy Saviour bore | |
| Kind witness, thou wast meet at once to dwell | 15 |
| On His eternal shore; | |
| All warning spared, | |
| For none He gives where hearts are for prompt change prepared. | |
| |
| Death wrought in mystery; both complaint and cure | |
| To human skill unknown:— | 20 |
| God put aside all means, to make us sure | |
| It was His deed alone; | |
| Lest we should lay | |
| Reproach on our poor selves, that thou wast caught away. | |
| |
| Death urged as scant of time:—lest, Sister dear, | 25 |
| We many a lingering day | |
| Had sicken’d with alternate hope and fear, | |
| The ague of delay; | |
| Watching each spark | |
| Of promise quench’d in turn, till all our sky was dark. | 30 |
| |
| Death came and went:—that so thy image might | |
| Our yearning hearts possess, | |
| Associate with all pleasant thoughts and bright, | |
| With youth and loveliness; | |
| Sorrow can claim, | 35 |
| Mary, nor lot nor part in thy soft soothing name. | |
| |
| Joy of sad hearts, and light of downcast eyes! | |
| Dearest, thou art enshrined | |
| In all thy fragrance in our memories; | |
| For we must ever find | 40 |
| Bare thought of thee | |
| Freshen this weary life, while weary life shall be. | | | | |
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