Hand in Hand with Angels

HAND in hand with angels,Through the world we go;Brighter eyes are on usThan we blind ones know;Tenderer voices cheer usThan we deaf will own;Never, walking heavenward,Can we walk alone.

Hand in hand with angels,In the busy street,By the winter hearth-fires,—Everywhere,—we meet,Though unfledged and songless,Birds of Paradise;Heaven looks at us dailyOut of human eyes.

Hand in hand with angels;Oft in menial guise;By the same strait pathwayPrince and beggar rise.If we drop the fingers,Toil-imbrowned and worn,Then one link with heavenFrom our life is torn.

Hand in hand with angels:Some are fallen,—alas!Soiled wings trail pollutionOver all they pass.Lift them into sunshine!Bid them seek the sky!Weaker is your soaring,When they cease to fly.

Hand in hand with angels;Some are out of sight,Leading us, unknowing,Into paths of light.Some dear hands are loosenedFrom our earthly clasp,Soul in soul to hold usWith a firmer grasp.Hand in hand with angels,—'T is a twisted chain,Winding heavenward, earthward,Linking joy and pain.

There 's a mournful jarring,There 's a clank of doubt,If a heart grows heavy,Or a hand 's left out.Hand in hand with angelsWalking every day;—How the chain may lengthen,None of us can say.But we know it reachesFrom earth's lowliest one,To the shining seraph,Throned beyond the sun.

Hand in hand with angels!Blessed so to be!Helped are all the helpers;Giving light, they see.He who aids anotherStrengthens more than one;Sinking earth he grapplesTo the Great White Throne.