Mills poems from the Sleater Family

Thanks to Jean Sleater!

To Mrs. Charlson

Though you are prostrate, yet, I trust

You’ll soon recover from your ills;

A cup of tea and bit of toast

Is better far than doctor’s pills;

A saucer, cup and plate I give,

To use them daily. – William Mills

Xmas 1889

A Hymn. 8’s and 7’s

By W. G. Mills

Tune: Mona’s Isle

God if Israel! We adore Thee

For Thy many mercies past,
And through Jesus’ name implore Thee,

And thy favors still may last.

In our darkness thou hast sought us

While we wandered far astray,

Through the Holy Sprit brought us

Thy glad tidings to obey.

Father! Keep thy sons and daughters

Safely in the Christian strife;

And the deep and trackless waters

Of the fearful storms of life;

When the waves are tossing wildly,

When the winds around us rage,

May the Holy Spirit mildly

Every rising fear assuage.

In the hour of pain and weakness

When our trials hard appear;

Comfort us with power and meekness

To the end to persevere.

When the sore temptations try us,

Perils be within our way,

May thine Angels still be nigh us

That we never go astray.

May we seek from Wisdom’s fountains

To obtain a large supply;

Till on Zion’s lofty mountain

We will all see eye to eye;

To thy care we feel commended

As we journey Zion-ward;

Through each scene by Thee attended,

Merciful and Holy Lord.

Tucson, A.T. Decr. 18, 1880

My Dear Louisa:

I’ll go to thee, Dearest, I know thou art lonely;

Both mind-day and midnight I think of thee only.

My day visions rise, like soft mists to enfold thee,

My night dreams hence take me that I may behold thee.

I’ll go to thee, Dearest, to banish my sorrow,

I’ll go to thy presence thy life-joy to borrow;

I’ll go to that noble heart beating so blandly,

And gaze on thy beauty that beams out so grandly.

The songbirds come early ere winter’s departed,

To sing of the summer-time sweet and lighthearted;

And love winged with joy, from thy soul it possesses,

Comes an angel around me with promise to bless us.

Oh, light of my soul, and, oh, peace of my spirit,

Beam warm on me now till your bliss I inherit;

The gloom of my life has a spark yet to light it

With the radiance of day, and thy love can excite it.

The form that to me was a hallowed evangel;

The face that in beauty reflected the angel;

The eyes like the azure where twin orbs are shining,

That gladden the gazes their mystery divining.

The smile that with kindness and sweetness arises,

Entrancing and glancing ethereal surprises;

Oh, I praise our Good Father that these e’en in vision

Are given and sent on a heavenly mission.

Thou wast sad when I left and sincere was thy mourning,

But wilt thou be glad when thou seest my returning?

Like the voice and the echo our hearts are repeating,

Or the skilled touch of chords in true harmony beating;

The pang that I suffer thou sharest the feeling,

The smile that delightest thee comes over me stealing;

And at last when death’s angels may call “Come up hither”

We hope hand in hand we may go there together.

I go to thee, Dearest, erewhile I may perish,

Like the sun to the flowers thy presence will cherish;

Intense is the feeling which prompts my addresses,

And pure the delight that now seeks thy caresses.

I go, for the time is so gloomy without thee –

My loneliness vanishes thinking about thee;

I go to the arms that shall ever enfold me,

I go to the soul whose strong love-fetters hold me.

WmGillMills

Decr. 18^th 1880, My Birthday