Poems (Edwards)/The Mercy Seat

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THE MERCY SEAT.
The hopes and joys and sweets of earth
 How faint and few they are,
The brightest dream that fills the heart
 Leaves but a shadow there;
Our dearest friends, how soon, alas!
 "How soon they change or die,"
And friendship's glow, how oft it fades
 Like sunlight from the sky,
E'en in our love we may destroy
 What we too dearly prize,—
May blight and break the very heart
 We more than idolize.

Alas for earth, how vain it is,
 How false are all things here,
The brightest smile that wreaths the lip,
 Is shadowed with a tear;
 ​It matters not who loves us here,
 It matters not if fame
Comes with her jewelled hands to weave
 A garland round our name;
And vainly may ambition strive
 To fill the longing mind,
Some aching void within its cells,
 Our restless spirits find.

There is one place to which the soul
 For still repose can fly,
One only place of refuge found
 Beneath the azure sky;
One place where cares that vex us now
 Come not to mar our rest,
Where thoughts of blasted hopes and joys
 Flit not across the breast;
A place where peace comes o'er the heart
 Like zephyrs soft and sweet,
A place where all on earth may go,—
 It is the Mercy Seat.

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