A Dieu and Au Revoir
As you love me, let there be no mourning when I go,--
No tearful eyes, No hopeless sighs, No woe,--nor even sadness!
Indeed I would not have you sad, For I myself shall be full glad,
With the high triumphant gladness Of a soul made free
Of God's sweet liberty.
No windows darkened; For my own
Will be flung wide, as ne'er before, To catch the radiant inpour
Of Love that shall in full atone For all the ills that I have done;
And the good things left undone;--No voices hushed;
My own, full-flushed
With an immortal hope, will rise In ecstasies of new-born bliss
And joyful melodies. Rather, of your sweet courtesy,
Rejoice with me At my soul's loosing from captivity.
Wish me "Bon Voyage!" As you do a friend
Whose joyous visit finds its happy end.
And bid me both "a Dieu!" And "au revoir!"
Since, though I come no more, I shall be waiting there to greet you,
At His Door. and, as the feet of The Bearers tread
The ways I trod, Think not of me as dead,
But rather-- "Happy, thrice happy, he whose course is sped!
Se has gone home--to God,
Her Father!"
As you love me, let there be no mourning when I go,--
No tearful eyes, No hopeless sighs, No woe,--nor even sadness!
Indeed I would not have you sad, For I myself shall be full glad,
With the high triumphant gladness Of a soul made free
Of God's sweet liberty.
No windows darkened; For my own
Will be flung wide, as ne'er before, To catch the radiant inpour
Of Love that shall in full atone For all the ills that I have done;
And the good things left undone;--No voices hushed;
My own, full-flushed
With an immortal hope, will rise In ecstasies of new-born bliss
And joyful melodies. Rather, of your sweet courtesy,
Rejoice with me At my soul's loosing from captivity.
Wish me "Bon Voyage!" As you do a friend
Whose joyous visit finds its happy end.
And bid me both "a Dieu!" And "au revoir!"
Since, though I come no more, I shall be waiting there to greet you,
At His Door. and, as the feet of The Bearers tread
The ways I trod, Think not of me as dead,
But rather-- "Happy, thrice happy, he whose course is sped!
Se has gone home--to God,
Her Father!"