Poems (Ford)/To Lizzie

TO LIZZIE.

God bless thee, Lizzie, darling,
Where'er thy footsteps roam;
May angels guard thy pathway,
And fill with light thy home;
May time, that changeth all things,
As gently pass o'er thee
As skims the white gull's pinions
Across the sleeping sea.

May true, unchanging friendship
Make bright thy passing hours;
Forever may thy pathway
Be strewn with fairest flowers;
God shield thy young heart ever
From sin and care and woe,
And make thy earthly dwelling
A Paradise below.

Should e'er a shade of sorrow
Across thy sunshine glide,
Mayst thou forget it, thinking
Upon the Crucified;
Remembering, should ever
Hope's rosy light grow dim,
That sufferings borne with patience
But make us more like Him.

Life is so brief and changing
That at the last 't will seem
As if our earthly journey
Were but a fleeting dream,—
And, oh, may it be ever
A happy dream to thee,
And in the land of angels
May thy awaking be.

Though on the world's broad ocean
Our life-barks drift apart,
Thy mem'ry will be ever
Shrined fondly in my heart.
Once more, dear friend, God bless thee!
Mayst thou on earth be blest,
And angel pinions waft thee
At last to endless rest.