The Reunion

The gulf of seven and fifty years     We stretch our welcoming hands across;     The distance but a pebble's toss     Between us and our youth appears.     For in life's school we linger on     The remnant of a once full list;     Conning our lessons, undismissed,     With faces to the setting sun.     And some have gone the unknown way,     And some await the call to rest;     Who knoweth whether it is best     For those who went or those who stay?     And yet despite of loss and ill,     If faith and love and hope remain,     Our length of days is not in vain,     And life is well worth living still.     Still to a gracious Providence     The thanks of grateful hearts are due,     For blessings when our lives were new,     For all the good vouchsafed us since.     The pain that spared us sorer hurt,     The wish denied, the purpose crossed,     And pleasure's fond occasions lost,     Were mercies to our small desert.     'T is something that we wander back,     Gray pilgrims, to our ancient ways,     And tender memories of old days     Walk with us by the Merrimac;     That even in life's afternoon     A sense of youth comes back again,     As through this cool September rain     The still green woodlands dream of June.     The eyes grown dim to present things     Have keener sight for bygone years,     And sweet and clear, in deafening ears,     The bird that sang at morning sings.     Dear comrades, scattered wide and far,     Send from their homes their kindly word,     And dearer ones, unseen, unheard,     Smile on us from some heavenly star.     For life and death with God are one,     Unchanged by seeming change His care     And love are round us here and there;     He breaks no thread His hand has spun.     Soul touches soul, the muster roll     Of life eternal has no gaps;     And after half a century's lapse     Our school-day ranks are closed and whole.     Hail and farewell! We go our way;     Where shadows end, we trust in light;     The star that ushers in the night     Is herald also of the day