Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems By the Lady E. Stuart Wortley. In Three Vols |
 | I, II, III. |
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THE NAME OF DEATH. |
 | Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems |  |
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THE NAME OF DEATH.
We talk of Death! What is it but a Name,A Phantasy—a Shadow—and a Dream?
Dread King of Heaven, 'tis thy Almighty hand
That bids the pulse of Life's wild fever stand
We cry, Oh! spare us, King of Terrors, spare;
And 'tis to thee alone is breathed that prayer!
Consoling thought, thou dost but bear us hence
To exult in life more ample and intense;
If worthy found, if humble, meek and full
Of trust in Thee and Him who died to annul
Our faults, and their dread forfeiture, and raze
That sentence stamped 'gainst them, and all, in days
Of the elder time, the sentence dread and dark;
But His name is the Strong-hold and the Ark—
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'Tis the one Refuge!—that Sun-lighting Star!
Salvation's beams—stream from it, broad and bright,
And all the Second Darkness melts to light.
Death!—thou art a phantasy—a dream—a name,
The smoke of the fresh-kindled, mightier flame,
That thus to Heaven aspires, not crushed, but fanned,
By the dread waving of the Almighty hand!—
That sable-seeming smoke conceals from us
The Spirit's guise and garb, all luminous!—
The King of Terrors, we may call thee, Death;
But thou art bowed the Eternal's throne beneath.
Oh! happy knowledge, to the faithful given,
The King of Terrors is the King of Heaven!
And they, in gratitude o'erflowing, know
In mercy 'tis he sends the dreaded blow—
For some 'tis rest from burthens dire—for all
To Him it is the summons and the call.
The King of Terrors is the King of Heaven!—
Thrice blessed knowledge to the faithful given!
| Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems | |