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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE THINNING RANKS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The day grows lonelier; the air
Last Line: But heaven shall be our trysting-place.
Alternate Author Name(s): Van Deth, Gerrit, Mrs.
Subject(s): God; Heaven; Love; Paradise


THE day grows lonelier; the air
Is chillier than it used to be.
We hear about us everywhere
The haunting chords of memory.
Dear faces once that made our joy
Have vanished from the sweet home band,
Dear tasks that were our loved employ
Have dropped from out our loosened hand.

Familiar names in childhood given
None call us by, save those in heaven.
We cannot talk with later friends
Of those old times to which love lends
Such mystic haze of soft regret;
We would not, if we could, forget
The sweetness of the by-gone hours,
So priceless are love's faded flowers;
But lonelier grows the waning day,
And much we miss upon the way
Our comrades who have heard the call
That soon or late must summon all.

Ah, well! the day grows lonelier here
Thank God, it doth not yet appear
What thrill of perfect bliss awaits
Those who pass on within the gates.
Oh, dear ones who have left my side,
And passed beyond the swelling tide,
I know that you will meet me when
I, too, shall leave these ranks of men
And find the glorious company
Of saints from sin forever free,
Of angels who do always see
The face of Christ, and ever stand
Serene and strong at God's right hand.

The day grows lonelier, the air
Hath waftings strangely keen and cold,
But woven in, O glad, O rare,
What love-notes from the hills of gold!
Dear crowding faces gathered there,
Dear blessed tasks that wait our hand,
What joy, what pleasure shall we share,
Safe anchored in the one home-land.

Close up, O comrades, close the ranks,
Press onward, waste no fleeting hour!
Beyond the outworks, lo! the banks
Of that full tide, where life hath power,
And Satan lieth underfoot,
And sin is killed, even at the root.
Close up, close fast the wavering line,
Ye who are led by One divine.
The day grows lonelier apace,
But heaven shall be our trysting-place.





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