Pilgrim! treading feebly on,
Smitten by the torrid sun —
Hoping for the cooling rain,
Looking for the shade in vain,—
Travel-worn and faint at heart,
Weak and weary as thou art,
Let thy spirit not repine,
Shade and shelter shall be thine;
Friendly hands to thee shall bring
Water from the cooling spring,
And the voice thou lovest best
Call the wanderer to his rest:
God hath said, to comfort thee,
"As thy day, thy strength shall be!"
Watcher by the bed of death!
Waiting for the latest breath
Of the loved, whose heart hath grown
Close, and closer to thine own—
Gazing on the fading eye
Long, and oh, how mournfully!
While Remembrance travels back
Over Being's vanished track,
Multiplying present wo
By the joys of "long ago,"
Till thy tears are poured like rain,
And thy spirit writhes with pain;
To this blessed promise flee—
"As thy day, thy strength shall be!"
Mother! from thy sheltering breast
To his dark and dreamless rest
They have borne thy fair-haired boy,
Him who was thy hope and joy—
Him who was thy only stay
When his father passed away;
Coldly by that father's side
Now decays thy flower of pride,
And thy widowed heart is left
Doubly wounded — twice bereft!
Yet the God who smites to heal
Can for human anguish feel ;
He will find a balm for thee-
"As thy day, thy strength shall be!”
Christian! toiling for the prize
Kept for thee beyond the skies—
Warring with the powers of sin,
Foes without and foes within—
Breathing now in rapture's air,
Verging then upon despair—
Trembling, hoping, filled with pain,
Yet rejoicing once again;
Shrink not from Life's bitter cup,
God shall bear thy spirit up—
He shall lead thee safely on
Till the ark of rest is won—
Till thy spirit is set free:-
"As thy day, thy strength shall be!"
William Henry Burleigh
