AT LAST.

Patea Mail, 22 May 1882, Page 4

AT LAST.

When on my day of life the night is falling, And in the winds, from unsunned places blown, I hear far voices out of darkness calling My feet to paths unknown :

Thou Who hast made my home of life so pleasant, Leave not its tenant when its walls decay, 0 Love divine ! O Helper ever present! : Be Thou my strength and stay. Be near - me when all else is from me drifting : Earth, sky, home pastimes, days of shade and shine, And kindly faces to my own uplifting, The love which answers mine. 1 have but Thee. O Father, let thy Spirit Be with me then to comfort and uphold. No gate of pearl, no branch of palm, I merit, Nor street of shining gold. j . Suffice it if—my good and ill unreckoned, ; And both forgiven through thy abounding grace— I find myself by hands familiar beckoned ■ Unto my fitting place. Some humble door among thy many mansions,: ;, 7, ; ■ ; I .! Some sheltering shade where sin and striving cease—' ' . : Where flows forever through heaven’s green expansions , ; The river of thy peace— Therefrom the music,round about me steal- . ing -. I fain would learn the new and - holy song, And find, at last, beneath thy trees of healing The life for which I long. 1882. ’ John G. Whittier.