Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/302

 2 9 6 A LITTLE WHILE.

If safely up to fourscore,

We climb life s day-built stair, How looks the way gone over,

Still hand in hand with care ? Ah ! life and all its doings

Will seem but briefest text To an unwritten sermon,

This world so crowds the next.

What if we lack red roses,

And laughter, and sweet song ? No matter, we are ending

A journey never long. How all the blooms of heaven

Shall open to His smile, We know not, but we shall know

In such a little while.

What if the sweet child-voices

No more may kiss your ear ? What if your hands are empty,

Despoiled of jewels dear ? Let this sweet consolation

Your daily grief beguile : Betwixt good-bye and greeting

Is such a little while.

Like ballast from an air-ship Our days drop out of sight,

So we may go up higher,

Where seeming, wrong shows right,

�� �