Page:Over the river, and other poems.djvu/39

Rh And lo! they have passed from our yearning hearts, Who cross the stream and are gone for aye! We may not sunder the veil apart That hides from our vision the gates of day; We only know that their barks no more May sail with us over life's stormy sea; Yet somewhere, I know, on the unseen shore They watch and beckon and wait for me. And I sit and think, when the sunset's gold Is flushing river and hill and shore, I shall one day stand by the water cold And list for the sound of the boatman's oar; I shall watch for a gleam of the flapping sail; I shall hear the boat as it gains the strand; I shall pass from sight with the boatman pale To the better shore of the spirit-land;