A Halt On The Way

A pause, a halt upon the way! A time for dreaming and recalling; We bore the burden of the day, And now the autumn night is falling.

A halt in life! a little while In which to be but a beholder, And think not of the coming mile And feel not, “I am growing older.”

A stern old man with wrinkled brow, Urging us on with beckoning finger, Time seems no longer--rather now A sweetheart who would make us linger.

Old times are with us,--long ago; Upon the wall familiar shadows; We find again the haunts we know, The pleasant pathways through the meadows.

And as we turn and look ahead, Seeking beyond for things departed, And dream of pathways we must tread In days to come through lands uncharted,

Old faiths still light us on our way, Old love and laughter, hope and sorrow,-- As evening of the Northern day Becomes the morning of to-morrow.