Chapter 19

I know his face is hid Under the coffin lid; Closed are his eyes; cold is his forehead fair; My hand that marble felt; O'er it in prayer I knelt; Yet my heart whispers that--he is not there!

I cannot make him dead! When passing by the bed, So long watched over with parental care, My spirit and my eye Seek him inquiringly, Before the thought comes, that--he is not there!

When, at the cool gray break Of day, from sleep I wake. With my first breathing of the morning air My soul goes up, with joy, To Him who gave my boy; Then comes the sad thought that--he is not there!

When at the day's calm close, Before we seek repose, I'm with his mother, offering up our prayer; Whate'er I may be saying, I am in spirit praying For our boy's spirit, though--he is not there!

Not there!--Where, then, is he? The form I used to see Was but the raiment that he used to wear. The grave, that now doth press Upon that cast-off dress, Is but his wardrobe locked--he is not there!

He lives!--In all the past He lives; nor, to the last, Of seeing him again will I despair; In dreams I see him now; And, on his angel brow, I see it written, "Thou shalt see me _there_!" Yes, we all live to God! Father, thy chastening rod So help us, thine afflicted ones, to bear, That, in the spirit land, Meeting at thy right hand, 'Twill be our heaven to find that--he is there!

JOHN PIERPONT.

SONG.

She's somewhere in the sunlight strong, Her tears are in the falling rain, She calls me in the wind's soft song, And with the flowers she comes again.

Yon bird is but her messenger, The moon is but her silver car; Yea! sun and moon are sent by her, And every wistful waiting star.

RICHARD LE GALLIENNE.

THE REAPER AND THE FLOWERS.

There is a Reaper whose name is Death, And, with his sickle keen, He reaps the bearded grain at a breath, And the flowers that grow between.

"Shall I have naught that is fair?" saith he; "Have naught but the bearded grain?-- Though the breath of these flowers is sweet to me, I will give them all back again."

He gazed at the flowers with tearful eyes, He kissed their drooping leaves; It was for the Lord of Paradise He bound them in his sheaves.

"My Lord has need of these flowerets gay," The Reaper said, and smiled; "Dear tokens of the earth are they, Where he was once a child.

"They shall all bloom in fields of light, Transplanted by my care, And saints, upon their garments white, These sacred blossoms wear."

And the mother gave, in tears and pain, The flowers she most did love; She knew she should find them all again In the fields of light above.

O, not in cruelty, not in wrath, The Reaper came that day; 'Twas an angel visited the green earth, And took the flowers away.

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.

"ONLY A YEAR."

One year ago,--a ringing voice, A clear blue eye, And clustering curls of sunny hair, Too fair to die.

Only a year,--no voice, no smile, No glance of eye, No clustering curls of golden hair, Fair but to die!

One year ago,--what loves, what schemes Far into life! What joyous hopes, what high resolves, What generous strife!

The silent picture on the wall, The burial-stone, Of all that beauty, life, and joy, Remain alone!

One year,--one year,--one little year, And so much gone! And yet the even flow of life Moves calmly on.

The grave grows green, the flowers bloom fair, Above that head; No sorrowing tint of leaf or spray Says he is dead.

No pause or hush of merry birds That sing above Tells us how coldly sleeps below The form we love.

Where hast thou been this year, beloved? What hast thou seen,-- What visions fair, what glorious life, Where hast thou been?

The veil! the veil! so thin, so strong! 'Twixt us and thee; The mystic veil! when shall it fall, That we may see?

Not dead, not sleeping, not even gone, But present still, And waiting for the coming hour Of God's sweet will.

Lord of the living and the dead, Our Saviour dear! We lay in silence at thy feet This sad, sad year.

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.

BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN.

Oh, deem not they are blest alone Whose lives a peaceful tenor keep; The Power who pities man, has shown A blessing for the eyes that weep.

The light of smiles shall fill again The lids that overflow with tears; And weary hours of woe and pain Are promises of happier years.

There is a day of sunny rest For every dark and troubled night; And grief may bide an evening guest, But joy shall come with early light.

And thou, who o'er thy friend's low bier Dost shed the bitter drops like rain, Hope that a brighter, happier sphere Will give him to thy arms again.

Nor let the good man's trust depart, Though life its common gifts deny,-- Though with a pierced and bleeding heart, And spurned of men, he goes to die.

For God hath marked each sorrowing day And numbered every secret tear, And heaven's long age of bliss shall pay For all his children suffer here.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

DE PROFUNDIS.

The face which, duly as the sun, Rose up for me with life begun, To mark all bright hours of the day With daily love, is dimmed away-- And yet my days go on, go on.

The tongue which, like a stream, could run Smooth music from the roughest stone, And every morning with "Good day" Make each day good, is hushed away-- And yet my days go on, go on.

The heart which, like a staff, was one For mine to lean and rest upon, The strongest on the longest day, With steadfast love is caught away-- And yet my days go on, go on.

The world goes whispering to its own, "This anguish pierces to the bone." And tender friends go sighing round, "What love can ever cure this wound?" My days go on, my days go on.

The past rolls forward on the sun And makes all night. O dreams begun, Not to be ended! Ended bliss! And life, that will not end in this! My days go on, my days go on.

Breath freezes on my lips to moan: As one alone, once not alone, I sit and knock at Nature's door, Heart-bare, heart-hungry, very poor, Whose desolated days go on.

I knock and cry--Undone, undone! Is there no help, no comfort--none? No gleaning in the wide wheat-plains Where others drive their loaded wains? My vacant days go on, go on.

This Nature, though the snows be down, Thinks kindly of the bird of June. The little red hip on the tree Is ripe for such. What is for me, Whose days so winterly go on?

No bird am I to sing in June, And dare not ask an equal boon. Good nests and berries red are Nature's To give away to better creatures-- And yet my days go on, go on.

_I_ ask less kindness to be done-- Only to loose these pilgrim-shoon (Too early worn and grimed) with sweet Cool deathly touch to these tired feet, Till days go out which now go on.

Only to lift the turf unmown From off the earth where it has grown, Some cubit-space, and say, "Behold, Creep in, poor Heart, beneath that fold, Forgetting how the days go on."

A Voice reproves me thereupon, More sweet than Nature's, when the drone Of bees is sweetest, and more deep Than when the rivers overleap The shuddering pines, and thunder on.

God's Voice, not Nature's--night and noon He sits upon the great white throne, And listens for the creature's praise. What babble we of days and days? The Dayspring he, whose days go on!

He reigns above, he reigns alone: Systems burn out and leave his throne: Fair mists of seraphs melt and fall Around him, changeless amid all-- Ancient of days, whose days go on!

He reigns below, he reigns alone-- And having life in love forgone Beneath the crown of sovran thorns, He reigns the jealous God. Who mourns Or rules with HIM, while days go on?

By anguish which made pale the sun, I hear him charge his saints that none Among the creatures anywhere Blaspheme against him with despair, However darkly days go on.

Take from my head the thorn-wreath brown: No mortal grief deserves that crown. O supreme Love, chief misery, The sharp regalia are for _Thee_, Whose days eternally go on!

For us, ... whatever's undergone, Thou knowest, willest what is done. Grief may be joy misunderstood: Only the Good discerns the good. I trust Thee while my days go on.

Whatever's lost, it first was won! We will not struggle nor impugn. Perhaps the cup was broken here That Heaven's new wine might show more clear. I praise Thee while my days go on.

I praise Thee while my days go on; I love Thee while my days go on! Through dark and dearth, through fire and frost, With emptied arms and treasure lost, I thank thee while my days go on!

And, having in thy life-depth thrown Being and suffering (which are one), As a child drops some pebble small Down some deep well, and hears it fall Smiling--so I! THY DAYS GO ON!

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.

BLESSED ARE THEY.

To us across the ages borne, Comes the deep word the Master said: "Blessèd are they that mourn; They shall be comforted!"

Strange mystery! It is better then To weep and yearn and vainly call, Till peace is won from pain, Than not to grieve at all!

Yea, truly, though joy's note be sweet, Life does not thrill to joy alone. The harp is incomplete That has no deeper tone.

Unclouded sunshine overmuch Falls vainly on the barren plain; But fruitful is the touch Of sunshine after rain!

Who only scans the heavens by day Their story but half reads, and mars; Let him learn how to say, "The night is full of stars!"

We seek to know Thee more and more, Dear Lord, and count our sorrows blest, Since sorrow is the door Whereby Thou enterest.

Nor can our hearts so closely come To Thine in any other place, As where, with anguish dumb, We faint in Thine embrace.

ROSSITER WORTHINGTON RAYMOND.

LINES

TO THE MEMORY OF "ANNIE," WHO DIED AT MILAN, JUNE 6, 1860.

"Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him."--JOHN xx. 15.

In the fair gardens of celestial peace Walketh a gardener in meekness clad; Fair are the flowers that wreathe his dewy locks, And his mysterious eyes are sweet and sad.

Fair are the silent foldings of his robes, Falling with saintly calmness to his feet; And when he walks, each floweret to his will With living pulse of sweet accord doth beat.

Every green leaf thrills to its tender heart, In the mild summer radiance of his eye; No fear of storm, or cold, or bitter frost, Shadows the flowerets when their sun is nigh.

And all our pleasant haunts of earthly love Are nurseries to those gardens of the air; And his far-darting eye, with starry beam, Watching the growing of his treasures there.

We call them ours, o'erwept with selfish tears, O'erwatched with restless longings night and day; Forgetful of the high, mysterious right He holds to bear our cherished plants away.

But when some sunny spot in those bright fields Needs the fair presence of an added flower, Down sweeps a starry angel in the night: At morn the rose has vanished from our bower.

Where stood our tree, our flower, there is a grave! Blank, silent, vacant; but in worlds above, Like a new star outblossomed in the skies, The angels hail an added flower of love.

Dear friend, no more upon that lonely mound, Strewed with the red and yellow autumn leaf, Drop thou the tear, but raise the fainting eye Beyond the autumn mists of earthly grief.

Thy garden rosebud bore within its breast Those mysteries of color, warm and bright, That the bleak climate of this lower sphere Could never waken into form and light.

Yes, the sweet Gardener hath borne her hence, Nor must thou ask to take her thence away; Thou shalt behold her, in some coming hour, Full blossomed in his fields of cloudless day.

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.

DEATH IN YOUTH.

FROM "FESTUS."

For to die young is youth's divinest gift; To pass from one world fresh into another, Ere change hath lost the charm of soft regret, And feel the immortal impulse from within Which makes the coming life cry always, On! And follow it while strong, is heaven's last mercy. There is a fire-fly in the south, but shines When on the wing. So is't with mind. When once We rest, we darken. On! saith God to the soul, As unto the earth for ever. On it goes, A rejoicing native of the infinite, As is a bird, of air; an orb, of heaven.

PHILIP JAMES BAILEY.

IN MEMORIAM F.A.S.

Yet, O stricken heart, remember, O remember How of human days he lived the better part. April came to bloom and never dim December Breathed its killing chills upon the head or heart. Doomed to know not winter, only spring, a being Trod the flowery April blithely for a while, Took his fill of music, joy of thought and seeing, Came and stayed and went, nor ever ceased to smile.

Came and stayed and went, and now when all is finished, You alone have crossed the melancholy stream, Yours the pang, but his, O his, the undiminished Undecaying gladness, undeparted dream.

All that life contains of torture, toil, and treason, Shame, dishonor, death, to him were but a name. Here, a boy, he dwelt through all the singing season And ere the day of sorrow departed as he came.

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.

Davos, 1881.

TEARS.

Thank God, bless God, all ye who suffer not More grief than ye can weep for. That is well-- That is light grieving! lighter, none befell, Since Adam forfeited the primal lot. Tears! what are tears? The babe weeps in its cot, The mother singing; at her marriage bell The bride weeps; and before the oracle Of high-faned hills, the poet has forgot Such moisture on his cheeks. Thank God for grace, Ye who weep only! If, as some have done, Ye grope tear-blinded in a desert place, And touch but tombs,--look up! Those tears will run Soon in long rivers down the lifted face, And leave the vision clear for stars and sun.

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.

RESIGNATION.

There is no flock, however watched and tended, But one dead lamb is there! There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, But has one vacant chair!

The air is full of farewells to the dying, And mournings for the dead; The heart of Rachel, for her children crying, Will not be comforted!

Let us be patient! These severe afflictions Not from the ground arise, But oftentimes celestial benedictions Assume this dark disguise.

We see but dimly through the mists and vapors; Amid these earthly damps What seem to us but sad, funereal tapers May be heaven's distant lamps.

There is no death! What seems so is transition: This life of mortal breath Is but a suburb of the life elysian, Whose portal we call Death.

She is not dead,--the child of our affection,-- But gone unto that school Where she no longer needs our poor protection, And Christ himself doth rule.

In that great cloister's stillness and seclusion, By guardian angels led, Safe from temptation, safe from sin's pollution, She lives whom we call dead.

Day after day we think what she is doing In those bright realms of air; Year after year, her tender steps pursuing, Behold her grown more fair.

Thus do we walk with her, and keep unbroken The bond which nature gives, Thinking that our remembrance, though unspoken, May reach her where she lives.

Not as a child shall we again behold her; For when with raptures wild In our embraces we again enfold her, She will not be a child:

But a fair maiden, in her Father's mansion, Clothed with celestial grace; And beautiful with all the soul's expansion Shall we behold her face.

And though, at times, impetuous with emotion And anguish long suppressed, The swelling heart heaves moaning like the ocean, That cannot be at rest,--

We will be patient, and assuage the feeling We may not wholly stay; By silence sanctifying, not concealing, The grief that must have way.

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.

CHRISTUS CONSOLATOR.

Beside the dead I knelt for prayer, And felt a presence as I prayed. Lo! it was Jesus standing there. He smiled: "Be not afraid!"

"Lord, Thou hast conquered death we know; Restore again to life," I said, "This one who died an hour ago." He smiled: "She is not dead!"

"Asleep then, as thyself did say; Yet thou canst lift the lids that keep Her prisoned eyes from ours away!" He smiled: "She doth not sleep!"

"Nay then, tho' haply she do wake, And look upon some fairer dawn, Restore her to our hearts that ache!" He smiled: "She is not gone!"

"Alas! too well we know our loss, Nor hope again our joy to touch, Until the stream of death we cross." He smiled: "There is no such!"

"Yet our beloved seem so far, The while we yearn to feel them near, Albeit with Thee we trust they are." He smiled: "And I am here!"

"Dear Lord, how shall we know that they Still walk unseen with us and Thee, Nor sleep, nor wander far away?" He smiled: "Abide in Me."

ROSSITER WORTHINGTON RAYMOND.

COMFORT.

Speak low to me, my Saviour, low and sweet From out the hallelujahs, sweet and low, Lest I should fear and fall, and miss thee so Who art not missed by any that entreat. Speak to me as Mary at thy feet-- And if no precious gums my hands bestow, Let my tears drop like amber, while I go In reach of thy divinest voice complete In humanest affection--thus in sooth, To lose the sense of losing! As a child Whose song-bird seeks the woods forevermore, Is sung to instead by mother's mouth; Till, sinking on her breast, love-reconciled, He sleeps the faster that he wept before.

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.

THE SECRET OF DEATH.

"She is dead!" they said to him; "come away; Kiss her and leave her,--thy love is clay!"

They smoothed her tresses of dark brown hair; On her forehead of stone they laid it fair;

Over her eyes that gazed too much They drew the lids with a gentle touch;

With a tender touch they closed up well The sweet thin lips that had secrets to tell;

About her brows and beautiful face They tied her veil and her marriage-lace,

And drew on her white feet her white silk shoes-- Which were the whitest no eye could choose!

And over her bosom they crossed her hands. "Come away!" they said; "God understands!" And there was silence, and nothing there But silence, and scents of eglantere,

And jasmine, and roses, and rosemary; And they said, "As a lady should lie, lies she."

And they held their breath till they left the room, With a shudder, to glance at its stillness and gloom.

But he who loved her too well to dread The sweet, the stately, the beautiful dead,

He lit his lamp and took the key And turned it. Alone again--he and she!

He and she; but she would not speak, Though he kissed, in the old place, the quiet cheek.

He and she; yet she would not smile, Though he called her the name she loved ere-while.

He and she; still she did not move To any one passionate whisper of love.

Then he said: "Cold lips, and breasts without breath, Is there no voice, no language of death,

"Dumb to the ear and still to the sense, But to heart and to soul distinct, intense?

"See now; I will listen with soul, not ear; What was the secret of dying, dear?

"Was it the infinite wonder of all That you ever could let life's flower fall?

"Or was it a greater marvel to feel The perfect calm o'er the agony steal?

"Was the miracle greater to find how deep Beyond all dreams sank downward that sleep?

"Did life roll back its records, dear, And show, as they say it does, past things clear?

"And was it the innermost heart of the bliss To find out, so, what a wisdom love is?

"O perfect dead! O dead most dear, I hold the breath of my soul to hear!

"I listen as deep as to horrible hell, As high as to heaven, and you do not tell.

"There must be pleasure in dying, sweet, To make you so placid from head to feet!

"I would tell you, darling, if I were dead, And 'twere your hot tears upon my brow shed,--

"I would say, though the angel of death had laid His sword on my lips to keep it unsaid.

"You should not ask vainly, with streaming eyes, Which of all death's was the chiefest surprise,

"The very strangest and suddenest thing Of all the surprises that dying must bring."

Ah, foolish world! O, most kind dead! Though he told me, who will believe it was said?

Who will believe that he heard her say, With a sweet, soft voice, in the dear old way:

"The utmost wonder is this,--I hear, And see you, and love you, and kiss you, dear;

"And am your angel, who was your bride, And know that, though dead, I have never died."

SIR EDWIN ARNOLD.

PEACE.

There is the peace that cometh after sorrow, Of hope surrendered, not of hope fulfilled; A peace that looketh not upon to-morrow, But calmly on a tempest that is stilled.

A peace which lives not now in joy's excesses, Nor in the happy life of love secure, But in the unerring strength the heart possesses, Of conflicts won, while learning to endure.

A peace-there is, in sacrifice secluded, A life subdued, from will and passion free; 'Tis not the peace that over Eden brooded, But that which triumphed in Gethsemane.

ANONYMOUS.

FOOTSTEPS OF ANGELS.

When the hours of day are numbered, And the voices of the night Wake the better soul that slumbered To a holy, calm delight,--

Ere the evening lamps are lighted, And, like phantoms grim and tall, Shadows from the fitful firelight Dance upon the parlor wall;

Then the forms of the departed Enter at the open door,-- The beloved ones, the true-hearted, Come to visit me once more:

He, the young and strong, who cherished Noble longings for the strife, By the roadside fell and perished, Weary with the march of life!

They, the holy ones and weakly, Who the cross of suffering bore, Folded their pale hands so meekly, Spake with us on earth no more!

And with them the being beauteous Who unto my youth was given, More than all things else to love me, And is now a saint in heaven.

With a slow and noiseless footstep, Comes that messenger divine, Takes the vacant chair beside me, Lays her gentle hand in mine;

And she sits and gazes at me With those deep and tender eyes, Like the stars, so still and saint-like, Looking downward from the skies.

Uttered not, yet comprehended, Is the spirit's voiceless prayer, Soft rebukes, in blessings ended, Breathing from her lips of air.

O, though oft depressed and lonely, All my fears are laid aside If I but remember only Such as these have lived and died!

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.

HAPPY ARE THE DEAD.

I walked the other day, to spend my hour, Into a field, Where I sometimes had seen the soil to yield A gallant flower: But winter now had ruffled all the bower And curious store I knew there heretofore.

Yet I, whose search loved not to peep and peer In the face of things, Thought with myself, there might be other springs Beside this here, Which, like cold friends, sees us but once a year; And so the flower Might have some other bower.

Then taking up what I could nearest spy, I digged about That place where I had seen him to grow out; And by and by I saw the warm recluse alone to lie, Where fresh and green He lived of us unseen.

Many a question intricate and rare Did I there strow; But all I could extort was, that he now Did there repair Such losses as befell him in this air, And would erelong Come forth most fair and young.

This past, I threw the clothes quite o'er his head; And, stung with fear Of my own frailty, dropped down many a tear Upon his bed; Then, sighing, whispered, _Happy are the dead! What peace doth now Rock him asleep below!_