Diana's Looking Glass and Other Poems by Charles D. Bell

Dearest, when I am dead,
Thy tears restrain,
Say, why should one be shed,
Let sorrow cease;
Soft is death's silent bed,
It knows not care or pain,
And I shall be at peace.

Why should you for me weep?
Is not God's gift
To His beloved, sleep?
And is not rest
Unbroken, calm, and deep,
No weary eye to lift,
For me the fittest, best?

Dost thou not love me, dear?
I know 'tis true;
Then do not let a tear
Drop on the sod,
Nor on the pall or bier
The cypress spread, or rue,
Rejoice, I am with God.

II. ABOVE THE BIER.

Above the bier, I said,
This is not death;
The rose is only shed,
Like flow'rs at even;
Therefore be comforted,
The soul will bloom in heav'n,
Freed from its sheath.

It is not death, but life,
Fuller, more true,
To pass from care and strife,
Sorrow and pain,
Sharp as the bitter knife
That draws the tears like rain,
Where all is new.

My love for her,—its height
How great, how broad,
Thou canst not know, till light
On darkness shine;
Its scale is infinite,
None can its depths divine,
No! none but God.

University of Virginia Library

I. WHEN I AM DEAD.

II. ABOVE THE BIER.