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Title: To My Wife, On The 30th Anniversary Of Our Wedding Day
Author: Thomas Cowherd [
More Titles by Cowherd]
SEPTEMBER 26, 1877.
Full thirty years of wedded bliss,
My darling wife, we have enjoyed;
And still I can with rapture kiss
Thy sweet, chaste lips--for I am void
Of every fear that thou wilt fail
To love me till our race is run.
Our mutual love is still as hale
As though we had but just begun
To link our fate
In marriage state,
Where joys for sorrows compensate.
So, filled with sense of God's rich love,
Let us those decades three review;
For though we have with trials strove
To keep our happiness still new,
We've had Religion's holy aid
Still shedding sunshine on our way,
As we pursued our humble trade
And struggled on from day to day.
Our hearts imbued
With gratitude
Call loud for vows to God renewed.
Now looking back through all these years,
'Midst chequered scenes of daily life,
A family of eight appears
For thee to love and serve, my wife!
Thou wert indeed a youthful bride,
But weak in body--not in heart--
As thou my cherished hearth beside
Sat down, content to do thy part.
And well I know
No lot below
Was e'er more free from earthly woe.
In this review I can't forget
How oft in sickness, grief and pain,
Thy loving heart our needs has met,
While solace rich came in thy train.
Nor when thyself on sick bed lay,
Racked with Neuralgia's maddening pangs.
How Patience kept the wolf at bay,
And made him soon withdraw his fangs.
My darling sweet,
'Tis surely meet
I thee with song like this should greet!
Nor yet when by that dreadful fall
Thy limbs were bruised, thy system shook,
How easily I can recall
Each winning smile, each tender look,
As I attempted to alleve
Thy sufferings great for many days.
And while I could not help but grieve,
I saw thy meekness with amaze;
For no dread pain
Could triumph gain
O'er thee, nor did'st thou once complain.
Then, O my darling, join with me
To celebrate our Father's praise!
For he has kept us lovingly
From hankering after worldly ways.
Raise then our Ebenezer high!
Join, children, in my joyful song!
Lay ever disagreement by,
That you in, union may be strong.
Thus let us wait
At Wisdom's gate,
Till Christ in turn shall each translate.
[The end]
Thomas Cowherd's poem: To My Wife, On The 30th Anniversary Of Our Wedding Day
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