To Carlton Berry

KILLED IN AN AEROPLANE ACCIDENT, JULY, 1916


It was Thy will, O God. And so he died!
For seventeen sweet years he was a child
Upon whose grace Thy loving-kindness smiled,
For he was clean, and full of youthful pride;
And, when his years drew on, then Thou denied
That he by man's estate should be defiled,
And so Thou call'st him to Thy presence mild
To be with Thee for ever, by Thy side.

Nor is he dead! He lives in three great spheres.
His soul is with Thee in Thy home above:
His influence, - with friends of former years:
His memory with those he used to love.
He is an emblem of that Trinity
With whom he lives in happy ecstasy.

Isle of Grain, 1916.