Bereavement and loneliness go hand in hand especially when you have lost a beloved partner with whom you have enjoyed so much happiness, fellowship and love. Clara Langford, a Somerset schoolmistress, experienced such a loss and comforted many through her inspired poems. When her beloved husband met with an accident which caused much suffering and eventually resulted in his death, she tells how God helped her meet the dark hours of loneliness which followed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh, has He planned it right when darkness falls,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And all one\u2019s world which once looked fair and bright<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Had faded out of sight and sorrow reigns?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s planned it right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThus I wrote in my darkest hours,\u201d Clara writes, when deepest sorrow and loss had touched my life, changing everything. Those of us who have suffered in this way, know how the sorrow returns like a flood to be fought by faith and prayer. It was so with me one May Sunday morning in the early days of my grief. I woke with a sense of depression. Rising early I dressed, made a cup of tea on my stove in my tiny bungalow\u2014I could not eat\u2014and gathering up my Testament, notebook and pencil, put on coat and hat, locked my door and set out to walk, in the loneliness of my spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was a perfect morning and the countryside was lovely. I skirted the village for the woodland road. As I stood on the brow of the first meadow, with a sob in my throat, I said aloud, \u2018Father Thou knowest, I am so distressed, so lonely, almost heart-broken, and the way seems very difficult\u2014speak to me this morning before I return.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen I wended my way down into the valley. A gate led into a peaceful and picturesque old lane shaded by trees. A stream sang its way through the meadow close by. Oh, the peace and loveliness of that morning as I slowly walked along that lane\u2014walked with a sad, lonely heart and all the time, though I knew it not, my prayer was being answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA little further on the lane widened into a woodland road and a gap in the hedge revealed a small clearing among the trees and a fallen ivy-covered tree trunk lay invitingly a few yards away, so I went in and sat on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLooking around I saw young fern fronds springing up in clusters and at a short distance a large furze bush in all bright yellow blossom. I listened to the birds\u2019 songs. I longed with an unspeakable longing for the touch of a vanished hand and the sound of a voice that was still, until I broke into uncontrollable sobbing until I was spent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPresently, I opened my Testament, asking for a message. My eyes lighted on St. Paul\u2019s words to the Philippians, 1:12, \u2018But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which have happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel.\u2019 Oh, here was strength indeed!\u2014Might not I too, make a pearl out of my grain of sand? I prayed that it might be so and that He would strengthen my heart\u2014give me a new message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI lifted my eyes to the tops of the tall trees, beautiful in their new spring dress, then at the glorious blue of the sky above\u2014I thought of life\u2019s journey, now so lonely without the dear one who had made life rich and beautiful and in the intensity of my spirit I said, \u2018Oh, Father, do you know when hearts are aching?\u2019 Immediately another line came\u2014I found notebook and pencil and discovered I was writing a poem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow long I sat there I cannot say, but verse by verse the inspiration came until it was finished and when I read the lines through I knew with a deep sense of gratitude and thanksgiving that God had indeed spoken to me that morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd so it proved. It was requested\u2014together with another poem\u2014\u2018Answered prayer\u2019\u2014and was produced\u2014beautifully illustrated in Golden Thought Series under the title of Solace, A Little Book of Comfort. Much blessing attended the publication of this little book. Over the world it went until more than one hundred and fifteen thousand copies had sold and countless messages were received, but I shall never know here, all that resulted through His leading that May Sunday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is the first time I have told this story thus. I do so now hoping hearts that are lonely, troubled, bereaved, disheartened perhaps, may be helped and find solace and comfort through renewed faith and trust. \u2018God is able to use you according to His power and not according to your weakness.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here is the poem:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh Father, do You know when hearts are aching;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When summer days have fled and north winds blow,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Skies heavy, gray, and days so dark and lonely?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy Child, I know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh Father, do You care when hours are empty,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Empty of all that made this world so fair\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When blessings once so precious, now have faded?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy Child, I care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh Father, must we trust when ties are broken,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When loves of earth once strong and deep have gone,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And strange unwelcome things beset our pathway?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes, Child, trust on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBe of good cheer, Let not your heart be troubled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing can touch your life unless I will;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I, who have shared Life\u2019s loneliness and sorrow,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Say \u2018Peace be still.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n