 | Sonnets and Other Poems Chiefly Religious |  |
139
AUTUMN AND DEATH.
The woods are glorious to behold,
But all their hues are hues of death;
The autumn blast is keen and cold,
And soon the russet and the gold
Must drift before the tempest's breath.
But all their hues are hues of death;
The autumn blast is keen and cold,
And soon the russet and the gold
Must drift before the tempest's breath.
And we, like leaves, must fall and die.
But let me through the ages lie
Where grass is green, where bloom the flowers,
Where earth shall press me to her breast,
Where nought may break my dreamless rest.
I shall not mark the passing hours,
Nor hear the birds, nor feel the rain.
Oh, sweet is sleep that follows pain,
With silence sweeter far than sound!
But let the light enfold me round,
And let me feel that Heaven is near,
And deep, and awful in its clear
And burning heights; and let me gaze
Through all its depths, upon the throne
Of Him who dwelleth there unknown,
Or known in Love's mysterious ways
To mortals and immortals shown
By Him who came, a world to save,
And wept above a human grave.
But let me through the ages lie
Where grass is green, where bloom the flowers,
Where earth shall press me to her breast,
Where nought may break my dreamless rest.
I shall not mark the passing hours,
Nor hear the birds, nor feel the rain.
Oh, sweet is sleep that follows pain,
With silence sweeter far than sound!
But let the light enfold me round,
And let me feel that Heaven is near,
And deep, and awful in its clear
140
Through all its depths, upon the throne
Of Him who dwelleth there unknown,
Or known in Love's mysterious ways
To mortals and immortals shown
By Him who came, a world to save,
And wept above a human grave.
148
THE END.
| Sonnets and Other Poems Chiefly Religious | |