James Montgomery

Separation on earth -- Reunion in heaven.

Friend after friend departs:

Who hath not lost a friend?

There is no union here of hearts,

That finds not here an end:

Were this frail world our only rest,

Living or dying, none were blest.

Beyond the flight of time,

Beyond this vale of death,

There surely is some blessed clime,

Where life is not a breath;

Nor life's affections transient fire,

Whose sparks fly upward to expire!

There is a world above,

Where parting is unknown;

A whole eternity of love,

Form'd for the good alone;

And faith beholds the dying here,

Translated to that happier sphere.

Thus star by star declines,

Till all are pass'd away,

As morning high and higher shines

To pure and perfect day;

Nor sink those stars in empty night, --

They hide themselves in heaven's own light.