Born: July 1860, Camberwell, Surrey, England.
Died: December 23, 1950.
Buried: Gore Hill Cemetery, St. Leonards NSW, Australia.
Pseudonym: Fairelie Thornton.
Florence was the wife of John Rudge (married 1891, Dursley, Stroud, England). They emigrated to Australia in 1914.
Bear ye one another’s burdens,
Thus the Saviour’s law fulfill;
Jesus trod this very pathway,
And we too must tread it still;
Sharing other people’s sorrows,
Soothing other people’s smarts,
Lifting loads from weaker shoulders,
Healing wounded broken hearts.
Bear ye one another’s burdens,
Self forgetting every day,
Thinking what to ease another
We can do or we can say.
Soothing sometimes by our presence
Those who seem a friend to need,
By some little self-denial
We may prove a friend indeed.
But I have so many worries
Burdens of my own to bear,
How can I another’s carry,
How can I another’s share?
All my time is fully taken
Bearing burdens of my own,
How, then, can I help a comrade?
Every man must stand alone.
Bear ye one another’s burdens,
Help some other on the road
And you’ll find your own heart lightened
And forget your own hard load.
For the heart can ne’er be heavier
If it help one heavier still;
Bear ye one another’s burdens,
Thus the law of Christ fulfill.
Fairelie Thornton (Florence T. Rudge)
Love Poems, 1922
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