Bright Thoughts For A Dark Day

Will the shadows be lifted to-morrow? -         Will the sunshine come ever again? -     Will the clouds, that are weeping in sorrow,         Their glorious beauty regain?     Will the forest stand forth in its greenness? -         The meadows smile sweet as before? -     And the sky, in its placid sereneness,         Bend lovingly o'er us once more?     Will the birds sing again as we heard them,         Ere the tempest their gentle notes hushed? -     Will the breeze float again in its freedom,         Where lately its melody gushed?     Will the beautiful angel of sunset         Drape the heavens in crimson and gold,     As the day-king serenely retireth,         'Mid grandeur and glory untold?     Yea; the clouds will be lifted to-morrow,         From valley, and hill-top, and plain;     And sunshine, and gladness, and beauty         Will visit the landscape again; -     The forest, the field, and the river         Will bask in the joy-giving ray;     And the angel of sunset, as ever,         Will smile o'er the farewell of day.     For the longest day hastes to its ending, -         The darkest night speeds to the day; -     O'er thickest clouds, ever, the sunbeam         Shines on with unfaltering ray; -     Though thou walk amid shadows, thy Father         Makes His word and his promises thine;     And, whatever the storms that may gather,         At length thro' the gloom He will shine!