I Would Not Live Alway.

I looked upon the fair young flowers     That in our gardens bloom,     Gazed on their winning loveliness,     And then upon the tomb;     I looked upon the smiling earth,     The blue and cloudless sky,     And murmured in my spirit's depths,     "O I can never die!"     I heard my sister's joyous laugh,     As she danced lightly by,     Her heart was glad with love and hope,     Its pulse with youth beat high;     I sought my mother's quiet smile,     She fondly drew me nigh,     And still I said within my heart,     "O I can never die!"     Stern winter came, - the fairy flowers     Were swept by storms away,     And swiftly passed the verdant bloom     Of summer's lovely day;     My mother's smile grew more serene,     And brighter was her eye,     And now I know her only as     An angel in the sky.     And sorrow's wing had cast a shade     Upon my sister's smile,     Had checked the voice of gladsome mirth,     And bounding step the while;     And when the bright spring came again,     And clouds forsook the sky,     Then I knelt down and thanked my God     There was a time to die.