In the valley of the shadow where you sit in helpless tears;
Greater is the parting anguish, than the joy of first receiving
The sweet gift that was your treasure through five happy, golden
years

When I laid within your arms the dear babe that God had given,
There was hidden in the future all the tears that you must weep,
Ah! the little ones so tangled in our heart-strings, they are riven
In the parting, are but treasures lent not given us to keep

There's silence in the places her voice filled with happy laughter,
Stillness waiting for the echo of the patter of her feet,
You are gazing on her picture, and your heart is longing after
The tender touch of the little hands, the mouth that was most sweet

In the valley of the shadow, where by God's will you are sitting,
Earthly sounds shut out and stilled, yea, and heaven so very near,
That the little golden head, through the open doorway flitting,
Might come smiling any moment and be greeted without fear

With earthly toil and serving we will not get encumbered,
Our hearts rise to our treasures that are laid up with the King,
There your little maiden, Maud, with His jewels fair are numbered,
There she learns the songs of gladness that the heavenly children
sing

Among those pure and precious who have known no earthly sinning,
The Beloved's fair white lilies in the Paradise of God,
Those He looked upon and loved, when their lives were but beginning,
And brought home before their tender feet grew weary of the road