colby_fam_b2_f29_52

July 4th 1859
Lines on the death of Mrs L.M. Johnson.
O why should we mourn when the friends we love
Leave this dark world for the realms above?
When the soul casts aside its fetters of clay
And like a freed bird flies gladly away
And finds its repose in the presence of God
And never grows weary of its blissful abode.

Could we list to the song she is singing now,
And see the bright crown that encircles her brow,
And the fadeless robe of snowy white
That clothes her form in heavenly light
We would not recall her to earth again
To spend her life in sickness and pain.

O fair are the plains and bright are the flowers,
That bloom forever in Eden's gay bowers,
And fine are the streams that gently flow,
And soft are the zephyrs that sweetly blow,
In the gardens of bliss where she is roaming now
With the sunlight of Heaven warm on her brow.

Then weep not though sorrow and anquish
Have caused your heart with grief to languish,
Though you miss the glad smile that cheered awhile,
And the voice with its music so soothing and mild,
And feel the blight that D Death has cast,
O'er scenes too fair, too bright to last.

But rather rejoice that your loss is her gain,
That she ever is free from sorrow and pain,
That she has early gone to her home above