Birth-Day Lines.
’Tis sweet to mark our natal day,
As year by year steals on,
And trace each pleasure passed away,
Each hour of sorrow gone;
Yet more! to claim a higher birth
Than that which gave us life on earth.
Unnumbered joys around us spring,
And pleasures thrill the heart,
To make the voice with gladness sing
And happiness impart;
E’en here we own—tho’ mixed with strife—
A rich inheritance of life!
But there are higher worlds afar,
And brighter scenes above,
Where thought is pure as evening’s star,
And life is holy love;
Where calm, yet fervent, pleasures glow,
And rapture makes the heart o’erflow.
To gain these joys the soul must be
To higher life refined;
A life of spotless purity,
Where truth and love enshrined
Within its deep recesses dwell,
Like fragrance in the lily’s bell.
We love by nature self alone,
And things of time to gain;
But if high loves to God and man
Within our spirits reign,
We may rejoice—a second birth
Has o’er us passed whilst yet on earth.
Then to each gladsome natal day
Will this rich joy be given—
Each rapid year, when passed away,
But brings us nearer heaven!
And, Blanche, this birth-day verse I twine
To wish these hopes and blessings thine!