Grief Poem

by Edgar A Guest

I could not utter it last night
Because the voice was dumb,
But now alone I try to write
The words which would not come,
When all the bitter tears are dried
Sometime when you’re alone,
You’ll find a calm to those denied
Who never grief have known.

I know the hurt is keen to-day,
I know the loss is great,
But what if you should go away
With no one there to wait?
And oh, how lonely Heaven would be
If all you loved were here,
And there was none you longed to see
To welcome you, my dear.

If God had spared you every blow
Which comes to us on earth,
Had shielded you from every woe
And filled your years with mirth,
And then at last He bade you leave,
Your place above to find,
For weary years you’d sadly grieve
For those you’d left behind.

Oh, you have had a lovely child,
And you have lost a son;
But soon you shall be reconciled
When life’s brief time is done;
For Heaven is made of those we love,
The beautiful and true,
And God has taken him above
To build a Heaven for you.

The Light of Faith by Edgar A Guest copyright 1926

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