My Beth

While browsing thru the novel Little Women, I came upon this - A poem written from Jo March to her dying sister, Beth.. MY BETH Verse 1 Sitting patient in the shadow Till the blessed light shall come, A serene and saintly presence Sanctifies our troubled home. Earthly joys and hopes and sorrows Break like ripples on the strand Of the solemn and deep river Where her willing feet now stand. Verse 2 O my sister, passing from me, Out of human care and strife, Leave me, as a gift, those virtues Which have beautified your life. Dear, bequeath me that great patience Which has power to sustain A cheerful, uncomplaining spirit In its prison-house of pain. Verse 3 Give me, for i need it sorely, Of that courage, wise and sweet, Which has made the path of duty Green beneath your willing feet. Give me that unselfish nature, That with charity devine Can pardon wrong for love's sake-- Meek heart, forgive me mine! Verse 4 Thus our parting daily loseth Something of its bitter pain And while learning this hard lesson, My great loss becomes my gain. For the touch of grief will render My wild nature more serene. Give to life new aspirations, A new trust in the unseen. Verse 5 Henceforth, safe across the river, I shall see forever more A beloved, household spirit Waiting for me on the shore. Hope and faith, born of my sorrow, Guardian angels shall become, And the sister gone before me

By their hands shall lead me home. (The following is a continuation of the novel) So the spring days came and went, the sky grew clearer, the earth greener, the flowers were up fairly early, and the birds came back in time to say goodbye to Beth, who, like a tired but trustful child, clung to the hands that had led her all her life, as Father and Mother guided her tenderly through the Valley of the Shadow, and gave her up to God. just something to ponder..