An Anniversary

On Earth the Years are like a train
    Of Pilgrims in a desert land;
They leave their tale of joy or pain
    In footprints on the barren sand. 
In Heaven the Years are like the flight
    Of song-birds through the refluent air;
No trace in that therial height
    Betrays their joyous transit there!

We count their shadows as they fall
    Across a little marble pile
That bears a Name beloved of all
    Who’ve felt the sunshine of her smile!
The golden day that gave Her birth
    We garland, in this world of time,
With flowers — the poetry of earth, —
    And some love-breathed memorial rhyme.

The flowers will wither, – yet exhale
    A soul of sweetness in their death,
Even so as Hers, that past the veil
Proclaims that Life is more than breath.
The Song may perish out of thought,
    But still the love that gave it form
Will search the happy goal it sought, –
    Her heart with old affection warm!

The light that filled her laughing eyes
    With gladness of that sunny heart,
Stilll quivers down our August skies
    In pulses that new life impart.
The merry Maids who cheer our coast
    Dim not her image in the breast,
She walks with them, a viewless ghost,
    With us a loving, welcome Guest!

Love celebrates a rounded year
    But lives through every moon, as well,
‘Tis not the seconds’ beat ye hear,
    But the full era’s signal bell.
The song we sing, the flowers we bring,
    To crown our Zoë’s natal day,
Are tokens of the loves that spring
    Perennial round her joyous way!