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172
THE CRYPT.
“Buried with Him.”
Utmost moans of agony,
Moaning, moaning ceaselessly,
“Earth is all one grave to me,
Sweetest fields but churchyard turf,
Sunniest seas but deadly surf,
Fairest skies one vaulted tomb,
Death in all homes most at home.”
Moaning, moaning ceaselessly,
“Earth is all one grave to me,
Sweetest fields but churchyard turf,
Sunniest seas but deadly surf,
Fairest skies one vaulted tomb,
Death in all homes most at home.”
Saddest moans of agony,
Back from far they come to me,
Echoed from the Crystal Sea
In a chant of victory;
From that Sea's translucent verge
Back in triumphs peals the dirge:
Back from far they come to me,
Echoed from the Crystal Sea
In a chant of victory;
From that Sea's translucent verge
Back in triumphs peals the dirge:
“Earth is all one grave to thee?
What besides can earth now be,
Since He died upon the Tree,
Since He died on earth for thee,
Since beneath it He lay, dim,
Cold and still each tortured limb.
Buried are His own with Him,
Yet the dirge is all a hymn.
What besides can earth now be,
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Since He died on earth for thee,
Since beneath it He lay, dim,
Cold and still each tortured limb.
Buried are His own with Him,
Yet the dirge is all a hymn.
“Would'st thou take the crypt's chill damps
And its dim sepulchral lamps
For His Temple spaces high,
For His depths of starry sky?
Wouldest thou? Not so would they
Who one moment breathe His day!
Earth has light for earth's great strife,—
Where He liveth, there is life!
And its dim sepulchral lamps
For His Temple spaces high,
For His depths of starry sky?
Wouldest thou? Not so would they
Who one moment breathe His day!
Earth has light for earth's great strife,—
Where He liveth, there is life!
“Earth is all one grave to thee?
Yet lift up thine eyes and see!
For the stone is rolled away
And He standeth there to-day,
Patiently by thee will stay
Till thy heart ‘Rabboni’ say!
He will not desert the clay,
Thine, nor theirs, by night nor day.
Yet lift up thine eyes and see!
For the stone is rolled away
And He standeth there to-day,
Patiently by thee will stay
Till thy heart ‘Rabboni’ say!
He will not desert the clay,
Thine, nor theirs, by night nor day.
“That Rabboni, faint through fears,
Sobbed through agony of tears,
That alone thy heart can clear
Those far-off Amens to hear;
That alone can tune thy heart
In those songs to take its part.
Sobbed through agony of tears,
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Those far-off Amens to hear;
That alone can tune thy heart
In those songs to take its part.
“Then thy cry of agony,
‘Earth is all one grave to me,’
Echoed, shall come back to thee
In a chant of victory,
Echoed from the Crystal Sea
From the living victors free,
Ransomed everlastingly.”
‘Earth is all one grave to me,’
Echoed, shall come back to thee
In a chant of victory,
Echoed from the Crystal Sea
From the living victors free,
Ransomed everlastingly.”
1869.
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