Not Lost, but Gone Before

One of God's own Darlings was my bosom's nestling
Dove,
With her looks of love and sunshine, and her voice
so soft and low;
How it trembled thro' my life, like an Immortal kiss
of love!
How its music yearns thro' all my memory now!

O! her beauty rainbows round me, and her sweet
smile, silverly
As a song, fills all the silence of the Midnight's
charmed hours;
And I know from out her grave she'll send her love
in death to me,
By the Spring in smiling utterance of Flowers.

O! my Love, too dear for Earth, has gone into the
land of light;
It was hard, she said, to leave me, but the Lord had
need of her;
And she walks the heavens in glory, like a Star i' the
crown of Night,
With the beautiful and blessed mingling there.

Gone before me, to be clothed on with bridal robe of
white.
Where Love's blossom flowers to fruit of Knowledge,
— Suffering's glorified!
And my love shall make me meet and worthy of her
presence bright,
That in heaven I may claim her as my Bride.