Classic Poem

Alone,—it must be so:
Break heart, or disentwine.
The Master calls me and I go;—
Rest mine and labour thine.

Alone at break of day;
I am not by thy side:
The sunny sky is leaden grey,
The wide world waste as wide.

Alone in life's long toil;
I cannot share thy prayers,
Nor lighten by the faintest smile
Thy daily load of cares.

Alone when night steals soft
Over the weary soul,
And thoughts of heart communion oft
Crowd in beyond control.

Say is the child alone
Whose hand the Father holds;
Or whom unseen but not unknown
The Friend of friends enfolds?

And still in calm or storm,
In throngs or desert rude,
Beside thee moves His radiant Form
Is this thy solitude?

At daybreak He is there
With healing in His wings,
And in the quiet midnight air
The balm of Gilead brings.

He calls me to His throne;
I go with Him to be:
And lonely thou art not alone,
While He abides with thee.