Lost and Found

by: John W. Chadwick (Author)

from: The New Hampshire Sentinel (P. 1)  November 20, 1879

Where have they gone, the happy summer days
         With all their loveliness of earth and sky,
         Which we have seen so gaily passing by,
Till now the last a moment more delays?

Whither have fled their mornings cool and sweet!
         Whither their dreamy haze of highest noon?
         Whither their sun-set glories, and the croon
Of many waters murmurously fleet?

O friends, dear friends, who have been with me here,
         To-night, for all the miles that intervene,
         There is no inch of space our hearts between;
Come hark with me a voice of hope and cheer.

These summer days that have so sweetly fled,
         Have their Avallon, wherein they abide
         Like good King Arthur after he had died,
Or seemed to die, when still he was not dead.

It is a quiet place within in the heart,
         Where they live on for many an after day;
         Blessing alike our labor and our play;
And never more from us do they depart.

And when we know not why we are so gay,
         And when we laugh, nor know the reason why,
         God sees in us some gleam of summer sky,
Or hears some brook go laughing on its way.

And so in you I know God keeps for me
         The sweetness of the unreturning days,
         Safe from all harm and better than all praise:
Be mine, at least, such immortality.
                                                Christian Union.