Gleams of Sunshine
By
James Leigh.
When life seems dull and heavy,
And dark’ning clouds hang low,
When sorrow wells around the heart,
And tears begin to flow,
A friendly word will ofttimes help
And cheer us in strife;
‘Tis a little gleam of sunshine
As we journey on through life.
.
When the day of toil is over
how happy and how blest
Is he who finds within his home
Contentment, peace and rest!
For he, within that blest abode,
May wife and children meet;
They are little gleams of sunshine,
That play around his feet.
.
If we cross the boundless ocean
In other lands of toil
Our thoughts will ofttimes wander back
To this our native soil ;
And the thoughts of home and kindred
(Though the sea betwixt us roll)
Is a little gleam of sunshine
Shedding warmth within our soul.
.
A mother sits in silence
After a day of toil--
She’s thinking of her soldier son
On Afric’s blood-stained soil ;
A letter comes to tell her
That he’s alive and free:
‘Tis a little gleam of sunshine
From the land across the sea.
.
When a friend steps forth to greet us
With a handshake or a smile,
And we feel his heart is in it..
Free from envy and from guile,-
The heavens at once seem brighter,
And the storm-clouds lose their wrath’
,Tis a little gleam of sunshine
That our friend shed on our path.
.
When we watch beside the sick bed
Of a friend we hold most dear,
And we fancy that the angle
Of death is brooding near
How the heart-strings thrill with pleasure
When we know the fever’s gone,
And the doctor’s erstwhile anxious face
Has a gleam thereon !
.
How often, oh! How often
We think, with tear dimm’d eyes,
Of loved ones who have left us
To dwell beyond the skies !
But we think of that re-union
Where we shell never part :
‘Tis a little gleam of sunshine
That strays within our heart.
.
Oh! When a friends gather
Within some snug retreat,
Where intellectual converse
And harmony complete
Reigns over all, how pleasant
The remembrance of that hour
In memory’s cells that sunny gleam
Shines on with magic power.
.
In the cottage or the palace
May be seen those sunny gleams
They are kindly words and actions
Where the heart and goodness teems;
They have travelled down the ages
Since the Master shed His blood,
And the source of them is surely
From the fountain of all good.
.
To the evening of our lifetime
May those sunny gleams appear.
Shining deep within the valley
Where the gates of death are near ;
And as we enter through them’
And earthly scenes are past,
May heavenly gleams of sunshine
Beam on our soul at last..
…..
James Leigh - "The Hyde Poet".
1 comment:
I love the poetry, Tom. Sometimes I feel as if I am at death's door and I think i am closer than they tell me or want me to know. I must say, with some enthusiasm that my last lunch capacity test actually went from 47% to a higher 59% and that is good news. I still use oxygen most of the time and am supposed to use it all the time. I get myself worked up in fit because I see things I want to do outside and am not able to do it. I suppose with your share of problems that you experience days like this too.
Am learning to use this new iMac, Tom. And learning what I have missed most of my life using PCs. Anyway, Patty has my older iMac as her new HP PC is in pieces on the table as it won't boot and has a bad motherboard. Mine had to have the disk wiped clean and reformatted. What a pain that was.
My best wishes to you Jane and to the family. If Peter gets around tell him we said hello.
Post a Comment