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144
THE BARRIER
Stay! We have gone as far as we can go.
The rest is wisdom not for us to know,
And here we stand, as travellers refused
A welcome after courage fiercely used
Across the world, across the deeps of space,
By pilgrims searching for the Holy Face
That will not suffer us till we have shed
Mortality, and risen from the dead.
The rest is wisdom not for us to know,
And here we stand, as travellers refused
A welcome after courage fiercely used
Across the world, across the deeps of space,
By pilgrims searching for the Holy Face
That will not suffer us till we have shed
Mortality, and risen from the dead.
Give me your hand. Our wayfaring is done,
Beyond the flashing of the farthest sun.
There would not be this barrier set to pride
Were glory absent on the other side
And beauty worth concealing till the hour
When darkness changes to a sudden flower
As white as snowdrop, and till crags that stand
In front of us are level with the land.
Beyond the flashing of the farthest sun.
There would not be this barrier set to pride
Were glory absent on the other side
And beauty worth concealing till the hour
When darkness changes to a sudden flower
As white as snowdrop, and till crags that stand
In front of us are level with the land.
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The wall of gateless rock is not the end.
The rosebud lives beyond the rampart, Friend,
And Love, with leaping pulses, gentle hands,
Runs, as a brook of life, toward the bands
Of dazzled travellers seeming in a trance
Because of such a fair inheritance.
Then Love will kiss them all, and teach them how
To name the fruit, the flower, the bird, the bough;
The rosebud lives beyond the rampart, Friend,
And Love, with leaping pulses, gentle hands,
Runs, as a brook of life, toward the bands
Of dazzled travellers seeming in a trance
Because of such a fair inheritance.
Then Love will kiss them all, and teach them how
To name the fruit, the flower, the bird, the bough;
And, after many lessons day by day,
As startling proof of how the Heavenly Way
Was thorned and flinted to the sound of mirth
By love-resisting revellers on Earth,
Will bid them journey forward with their load
Of shame and penitence along the road
By which will come to them at eventide
The Shepherd whom they daily crucified.
As startling proof of how the Heavenly Way
Was thorned and flinted to the sound of mirth
By love-resisting revellers on Earth,
Will bid them journey forward with their load
Of shame and penitence along the road
By which will come to them at eventide
The Shepherd whom they daily crucified.
If you and I accept this end of thought;
Turn back together; labour as we ought,
Believing that the flower of Vision grows
Behind the barrier, as on Earth the rose,
No longer shall we miss the dignity of torn
And crippled hands among the flint and thorn,
But, spending Talents thus for Him above,
Retire from musing and advance to love.
Turn back together; labour as we ought,
Believing that the flower of Vision grows
Behind the barrier, as on Earth the rose,
No longer shall we miss the dignity of torn
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But, spending Talents thus for Him above,
Retire from musing and advance to love.
Withdrawn, and motionless as silent trees,
Amid a tangle of immensities,
Together, Comrade, we forgot the sign
Of him who gave the wounded oil and wine
And substance for the morrow. Let the clear
Announcement of the Cross, that we are here
For sacrifice, as long ago our Lord,
Enrol two labourers heedless of reward.
Amid a tangle of immensities,
Together, Comrade, we forgot the sign
Of him who gave the wounded oil and wine
And substance for the morrow. Let the clear
Announcement of the Cross, that we are here
For sacrifice, as long ago our Lord,
Enrol two labourers heedless of reward.
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