Friend after friend departs:
Who has not lost a friend?
There is no union here of hearts
That finds not here an end:
Were this frail world our final rest,
Living or dying none were blest.

Beyond the flight of time,
Beyond this vale of death,
There surely is some blessed clime
Where life is not a breath
Nor life's affections transient fire,
Whose sparks fly upward and expire.

There is a world above
Where parting is unknown;
A long eternity of love
Formed for redeemed alone;
And faith beholds the dying here
Translated to that happier sphere.

Thus star by star declines
Till all are passed away,
As morning high and higher shines
To pure and perfect day;
Nor sing those stars in empty night,
But hide themselves in heaven's own light.

James Montgomery

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so those also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

Copied from my grandmother’s hymnal, Hymn Book of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Publishing House of the M. E. Church, South: Nashville, TN, 1901, Hymn #617.

Note: This hymn is in the public domain. Also, the hymns in this hymnal are not titled. So when I do not know the hymn, I generally use the first line as the title.

Photo taken in Milton, FL, 2021

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