Joy of my life while left me here! <br />And still my love! <br />How in thy absence thou dost steer <br />Me from above! <br />A life well led <br />This truth commends, <br />With quick or dead <br />It never ends. <br /> <br />Stars are of mighty use; the night <br />Is dark, and long; <br />The road foul; and where one goes right, <br />Six may go wrong. <br />One twinkling ray, <br />Shot o'er some cloud, <br />May clear much away, <br />And guide a crowd. <br /> <br />God's saints are shining lights: who stays <br />Here long must pass <br />O'er dark hills, swift streams, and steep ways <br />As smooth as glass; <br />But these all night, <br />Like candles, shed <br />Their beams, and light <br />Us into bed. <br /> <br />They are, indeed, our pillar-fires, <br />Seen as we go; <br />They are that city's shining spires <br />We travel to: <br />A swordlike gleam <br />Kept man for sin <br />First <br />out <br />; this beam <br />Will guide them <br />in.<br /><br />Henry Vaughan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/joy-of-my-life-while-left-me-here/
