Though Fame be slow, yet Death is swift, And, o'er the spirit's eyes, Life after life doth change and shift With larger destinies : As on we drift, some wider rift Shows us serener skies. And, though naught falleth to us here Yet all, though ne'er Christ's faith they wear, A REQUIEM. Av, pale and silent maiden, Thine was the sunniest nature That ever drew the air, The wildest and most wayward, A breath of summer wind. Into the eternal shadow That girds our life around, Into the infinite silence Wherewith Death's shore is bound, Thou hast gone forth, beloved! And I were mean to weep, That thou hast left Life's shallows And dost possess the Deep. Thou liest low and silent, Thy heart is cold and still, Thine eyes are shut for ever, He loved and would have taken, We strove, and he was stronger, And I have never wept. Let him possess thy body, Thy soul is still with me, More sunny and more gladsome Than it was wont to be: Thy body was a fetter That bound me to the flesh, Thank God that it is broken, And now I live afresh ! Now I can see thee clearly; Is rent and blown away : I saw its bright wings growing, And knew that thou must fly. Now I can love thee truly, For nothing comes between The senses and the spirit, The seen and the unseen; Lifts the eternal shadow, The silence bursts apart, And the soul's boundless future Is present in my heart. THE FATHERLAND. WHERE is the true man's fatherland ? As the blue heaven wide and free! Is it alone where freedom is, Where God is God and man is man? For the soul's love of home than this? O, yes! his fatherland must be As the blue heaven wide and free! |