Vesta

O CHRIST of God! whose life and death
Our own have reconciled,
Most quietly, most tenderly
Take home thy star-named child !

Thy grace is in her patient eyes,
Thy words are on her tongue;
The very silence round her seems
As if the angels sung.

Her smile is as a listening child’s
That hears its mother’s call;
The lilies of thy perfect peace
About her pillow fall.

She leans from out our clinging arms
To rest herself in thine;
Alone to thee, dear Lord, can we
Our well-beloved resign.

Oh, less for her than for ourselves
We bow our heads and pray:
Her setting star, like Bethlehem’s,
To thee shall lead the way.

John G. Whittier.