… Were we led all that way for birth or death? There was a birth, certainly, we had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death, but had thought they were different; this birth was hard and bitter agony for us, like death, our death. We returned to our places,...
Well may this body poorer, feebler grow! It is undressing for its last sweet bed; But why should the soul, which death shall never know, Authority, and power, and memory shed? It is that love with absolute faith would wed: God takes the inmost garments off his child...
Love’s fire thou art, however cold I be, Nor heaven have I, nor place to lay my head, Nor home, but thee. Christina Rossetti (1828-82).
There’s a Friend for little children Above the bright blue sky. They are watching at the portal, They are waiting at the door, Waiting only for my coming, All the loved ones, gone before. Albert Midlane, Sacred Songs and Solos.
Not in Utopia – subterranean fields – Or some secreted island, Heaven knows where! But in the very world, which is the world Of all of us – the place where, in the end, We find our happiness, or not at all. William Wordsworth (1770-1850), The...
The soul that rises with us, our life's star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God who is our home: Heaven lies about us in our infancy! Shades of...
Fancy next her office holds but know that in the soul are many lesser faculties, that serve reason as chief. Among these fancy next her office holds; of all external things, which the five watchful senses represent, she forms imaginations, aery shapes, which reason,...
O let my soul, whose keys I must deliver Into the hands of senseless dreams, Which knowing thee, suck in thy beams And wake with thee for ever. George Herbert (1593-1633).
Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits and Are melted into air, into thin air: And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all...
Gotten past the day I will give thanks, O Lord. The evening draweth nigh: Make it bright. There is an evening, as of the Day, so also life; The evening of life is old age: Old age hath overtaken Me: make it bright. Abide with me, O Lord, For even now it is towards...
Bring us, O Lord our God, At our last awakening Into the house and gate of heaven, to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, Where there shall be no darkness or dazzling, But one equal light: No noise or silence, but one equal music: No fears or hopes, But one...
I pray you, merciful Jesus, that as you have graciously granted me joyfully to imbibe the words of your knowledge, so you will also, of your goodness, grant that I may come at length to you, the fount of all wisdom, and stand before your face for ever. ...