Poem by Freeman Edwin Miller

Two Lives

Two infants in their cradles lie,
    Where lullabies of peace
In gentle strains of tender music die.
    And carols never cease.

Two urchins o'er the meadow lands
    Are bounding in their plays,
Where sweet enjoyment with angelic hands
    Winds gladness o'er the days.

Two boys, where golden fancies bless,
    Repose in sunny beams,
And muse away the hours of happiness
    On couches made of dreams.

Two men upon a summer sea
    Are toiling, brave and strong,
Where pleasures roll their elfin harmony
    And labor ends in song.

Two gray-haired sages, silvered o'er,
    In life meet once again,
To name the wondrous happiness they bore
    Among their fellow-men.

Two graves forever hide the twain
    Who found, in all their years,
No secret shadows, where unbroken pain
    Held fountains full of tears.

Two lives have passed from human reach,
    And few have heard of them,
But joy had not been better served if each
    Had worn a diadem.

Ah, bosoms here are strangely blest
    With perfect bliss that glows,
And he above all others lives the best,
    Who has the fewest woes!

1. In the Vales
2. When We Shall Meet
3. Christmas Time
4. Oklahoma
5. To One Who Pledged Her Friendship

Madison Cawein Two Lives ("There is no God")

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