The Poetical Works of George Barlow In Ten [Eleven] Volumes |
 | I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
 | IX. |
“AS WE GROW OLDER”
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| X. |
| XI. |
 | The Poetical Works of George Barlow |  |
24
“AS WE GROW OLDER”
As we grow older, life grows more divine:
Slow word by word and tedious line by line
We learn the next world's lore.
Then all our hearts are changed, the temporal ends;
We bid farewell to old, we make new friends
Upon the eternal shore.
Slow word by word and tedious line by line
We learn the next world's lore.
Then all our hearts are changed, the temporal ends;
We bid farewell to old, we make new friends
Upon the eternal shore.
Wife, mother, brother, sister, father, these
Pass, like the passing of a summer breeze;
The soul is that which stays.
No local earthly frail relationship
Hallowed by grasp of hand or touch of lip
Defies the fleeting days.
Pass, like the passing of a summer breeze;
The soul is that which stays.
No local earthly frail relationship
Hallowed by grasp of hand or touch of lip
Defies the fleeting days.
Our personality grows wholly new,—
Differs from yesterday's as morning dew
From dew-drops now absorbed.
Closer we cleave to God, and more apart
We live, it may be, from the human heart:
Our soul's sun shines full orbed.
Differs from yesterday's as morning dew
From dew-drops now absorbed.
25
We live, it may be, from the human heart:
Our soul's sun shines full orbed.
So we pass onward, till we stand at last
With every struggle, each love, in the past;
Our soul surmounts its throne.
Then the large deathless rapture through us thrills:
We turn from human hearts, from flowers and hills,
And meet God's eyes, alone.
With every struggle, each love, in the past;
Our soul surmounts its throne.
Then the large deathless rapture through us thrills:
We turn from human hearts, from flowers and hills,
And meet God's eyes, alone.
1885.
| The Poetical Works of George Barlow | |