In Memorium for my brother John Robert Riley

Good Bye

Sweet day--you will return no more, Nor bring again that change of shade and sun; Whatever future days may have in store, This tranquil life of thine is spent and done.

Good-bye, sweet day, then, if it must be so, But let me thank you once before you go.

All I have thought and done is past--yet stays Unalterable now, sealed fast and set; The future's mine to mold, the wise man says, By what is past remains--'tis we forget.

Grant that I may in strength and wisdom grow To love each day that comes, and use it so.