Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/223

 THE ONES WHO ARE LEFT BEHIND. 2 1/

So when a good ship sails away,

I seem to hear upon the wind Prayers not for travellers on their way,

But for the sad hearts left behind,

For whom life has the same routine,

Only unlighted, as of yore, By forms and voices loved, and lost

From stair and hall and open door.

For evermore the strongest go,

Venturing far we weak ones stay j Ora pro nobis, kindly souls,

As well as those who go away ;

And oh, when angels stoop to take

Buds never lent to blossom here When stalwart souls up higher rise,

For better work in light more clear

When for the last time lies the link

Twixt hands &quot; Good-bye &quot; no more shall bind, Then, dear Lord, look in mercy down ;

Comfort the sad ones left behind. 19

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