The Cross of Sorrow: A Poem

THE CROSS OF SORROW. {For the Improvement Era.) They bore thee, dear, to the hill-side, And laid thee beneath the sod. While the birds were joyfully singing, While youth fared forth a-Maying, I felt the chastening rod. Calmly I turned from thy grave-side, But the sky was no longer blue ; The hills were veiled in grayness, The sun was shadow' d too. My heart cried out from its prison, I lifted my hands and prayed ; Then, softly, there came from the heaves, " "Tis I, be not afraid;' Thou shalt be no longer lonely, For the chosen of God you stand ; You bear the cross of sorrow. And now that you understand, Go forth, on errands of mercy; Lift up the fallen and faint; Comfort the sad and friendless ; List to the prisoner's plaint; When thy heart is filled with compassion, While the wounds of the suffering you bind, Ere the bells sound the call to vespers, Joy, thou shalt surely find." Maud Baggarley Salt Lake City, Utah.