The Kirk Above Dee Water. Epilogue.

124 The Kirk above Dee Water.

EPILOGUE:

THE KIRK AND THE RIVER.

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The River flows beneath the Kirk,

And on its banks men rest and work,

And week by week

The bell doth seek

An echo in their hearts below

Beside the River’s flow.

And still, when silence reigns around,

Is heard the soft mysterious sound—

A murmur sweet

Beneath our feet

That tread the path of daily toil,

Upon this ancient soil.

The River speaks, when man is dumb,

Of all that yet may chance to come—

Of Life that lives,

Of Love that gives

E’en life itself in lavish love

Upon the banks above.

Epilogue. 125

Men come and go within the Kirk

On Sabbath days of light or mirk;

And then, at last,

Life’s stream gone past,

They come, but nevermore go forth

From out the Kirkyard earth.

Thus in old years the tide hath flowed,

Of youth and age, along the road

Beside the bank

Till each life sank

And ebbed into the narrow cell

Where all at length is well.

So run our life poured forth from God,

In streams of gentleness abroad,

That, when we die,

No dear one’s eye

May weep that, by the quiet Kirk,

We rest at last from work.

[THE END.]