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YOUTH IN HEAVEN
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

YOUTH IN HEAVEN

“In heaven, the angels are advancing continually to the spring-time of their youth, so that the oldest angel appears the youngest.” Swedenborg

Not for them the length'ning shadows,
Fallingly coldly 'round our lives;

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Nearer, nearer, through the ages,
Life's new spring for them arrives.
Not for them the doubt and anguish
Of an old and loveless age;
Dropping sadly tears of sorrow,
On life's faded, blotted, page.
Not for them the hopeless clinging,
To life's worn and feeble strands;
Till the last has ceased to tremble,
In our aged, withered hands.
Not for them the mournful dimming
Of the weary tear-stained eye,
That has seen the sad procession,
Of its dearest hopes go by.
Never lines of light and darkness
Thread the brows forever fair;
And the eldest of the angels,
Seems the youngest brother there.
There the streets of life doth never
Cross the mournful plain of death;
And the gates of light are ever
Closed against its icy breath.