Despair Not
by Annie B © 2020Hearts, do not despair in your sorrow.
Beware in your sorrow of sinning.
Hope from God’s promises tomorrow;
For death is for life the beginning.
Bodies that are shrouded in mourning;
Emblems of hope that are not spoken;
The garland, the caskets’ adorning;
And death’s power is ever broken.
A dearly Beloved One has left us;
Though He will not leave us forsaken.
God, in His Wisdom, confounded us;
Now we know the dead will awaken.
When dawn comes, the glorious ‘morrow;
A glorified form shall be given.
This body that we view back with sorrow,
Returned His Life to Heaven.
The seed that in springtime was planted;
A measure of sunshine and showers;
Hiding in the ugly dirt-filled ground;
Now, springs into beautiful flowers.
A gift to the churchyard we enter;
Returning our clay to its’ Maker;
As dust to dust we will surrender;
As we lay to rest in God’s acres.
Our souls who in our bodies abide;
Our souls that had longed for salvation;
Now, our souls who in Jesus confides;
Finally, finding hope’s consummation.
Earth, we now consign to your keeping;
In peace to await resurrection
This body with sorrow and weeping
Will soon arise in all perfection.
Dear Christ, our souls’ Maker and Lover,
You have closed the grave’s mournful story.
When time and earth’s travails are over,
You call Your Own to perfect glory.
