A Love-Song
A LOVE-SONG
This is the love-song we today are singing—
The song of her who, blessing, most is blest:
Giver of dreams that set the soul far winging,
And bring it home to rest.
This is the song of her, our fount of being,
The pilot of our hope where'er we go:
Of her—the brave, the patient, the foreseeing—
To whom our all we owe.
The wronged, oppressed,—what poor, unfriended comer
Has not, with her, found shelter safe from storm?—
A smile of welcoming as sweet as summer,
A heart as deep and warm?
Can we have voice today for others' praises,
When evil and disaster threaten her?
Ah, no! a passion that man's soul upraises,
New-born in us, doth stir
At thought of her, belov'd, who shows us living
Is not the mere continuance of breath,
Giving her favored ones a joy of giving,
Ineffable in death!
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in 1917, before the cutoff of January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1927, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 96 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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