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TO A FATHER, ON THE DEATH OF HIS ONLY CHILD, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The hand of the highest, who woundeth, can heal
Last Line: That thou may'st go to him, though he cannot return.
Alternate Author Name(s): Quaker Poet
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fathers; Death - Babies


The hand of the HIGHEST, who woundeth, can heal
Every pang that the keenest affliction may feel:
And though misery's cup may be fill'd to its brim,
It can be endur'd, through obedience to HIM.

I grant that the stroke which has laid thy hopes low
Is perhaps the severest that nature can know;
If hope but deferr'd, may cause sickness of heart,
How dreadful to see it for ever depart!

Yet, even in this hour of unutterable grief,
Religion and reason may whisper relief,
If the sufferer confide in the goodness of GOD,
Who withholds not his staff, when he strikes with his rod.

Though the worth of the dead may at present but be
A source of additional anguish to thee;
Yet a period may come, when that worth shall awake
A soul-soothing sadness, belov'd for his sake.

Then arise! like the monarch of Judah, repair
To the house of the Lord, humbly worship him there;
And may love of thy lost-one instruct thee to learn
That thou may'st go to him, though he cannot return.





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