University of Virginia Library


221

VI.

1. Men.

Glory be to God on high,
Where the lov'd and lost ones meet
Safe beneath their Saviour's feet:
Faces dear, 'tis now ye smile,
Ye, whom I have miss'd awhile,
Missing you, I long have hung
Downcast, silent, and unstrung,
And faint and feeble is the strain
I e'er shall wake again,
Until I join your lays beyond the reach of pain.

2. Angels.

Peace be upon earth below;
Seek ye, mourners, for release?
Here behold the cup of peace!
Here, with your poor fleshly ties
Are divinest sympathies;
Tho' hid a little while from sight
These spirits soft that cheer'd your night,
They are but gone like stars of morn,
Before the sun is born;—
Still near you tho' unseen His temple they adorn.

222

3. Men and Angels.

Good will to man from God above:
Tho' death doth raise his veil between,
Yet Thee in them, and them in Thee,
We solemnize awhile unseen,
And soon the cleansed sight shall see.
The Church dwells here a sufferer still,
Yet, born of heavenly birth,
Her nurture is of heavenly food, until
Her stature fills the sky, while she doth walk on earth.