Religious studies, sketches and poems | ||
THE CHARMER
“Socrates. However, you and Simmias appear to me as if you wished to sift this subject more thoroughly, and to be afraid, like children, lest, on the soul's departure from the body, winds should blow it away.
“Upon this Cebes said, ‘Endeavor to teach us better, Socrates. Perhaps there is a childish spirit in our breast that has such a dread. Let us endeavor to persuade him not to be afraid of death, as of hobgoblins.’
“‘But you must charm him every day,’ said Socrates, ‘until you have quieted his fears.’
“‘But whence, O Socrates,’ he said, ‘can we procure a skillful charmer for such a case, now you are about to leave us?’
“‘Greece is wide, Cebes,’ he said, ‘and in it surely there are skillful men; and there are many barbarous nations, all of which you should search, seeking such a charmer, sparing neither money nor toil.’”—
Last words of Socrates, as narrated by Plato in the Phœdo.With longings for the things that may not be,
Faint for the friends that shall return no more,
Dark with distrust, or wrung with agony.
Whence came we? whither go? and where are those
Who, in a moment stricken from our side,
Passed to that land of shadow and repose?
Or are they living in some unknown clime?
Shall we regain them in that far-off home,
And live anew beyond the waves of time?
Thou wert our teacher in these questions high;
But ah! this day divides thee from our side,
And veils in dust thy kindly guiding eye.
On what far shores may his sweet voice be heard?
When shall these questions of our yearning souls
Be answered by the bright Eternal Word?”
When Socrates lay calmly down to die;
So spake the sage, prophetic of the hour
When earth's fair morning star should rise on high.
Long seeking, wandering, watching on life's shore;
Reasoning, aspiring, yearning for the light,
Death came and found them—doubting as before.
Pure, simple, sweet, as comes the silver dew,
And the world knew him not,—he walked alone
Encircled only by his trusting few.
Betrayed, condemned, his day of doom drew nigh;
He drew his faithful few more closely round,
And told them that his hour was come—to die.
“My Father's house hath mansions large and fair;
I go before you to prepare your place,
I will return to take you with me there.”
And life and death are glorified and fair;
Whither He went we know, the way we know,
And with firm step press on to meet him there.
Religious studies, sketches and poems | ||