Woe for that bitter, bitter moment, The fearful start, the parting groan, The wrench of anguish, from the body When the poor soul goes forth alone! Hell and destructiou are before her; Earth in its truest worth she sees; A flickering shade; a dream of error ; A vanity of vanities. Sin in this world let us flee, That in heaven our place may be. Draw nigh, ye sons of Adam; viewing When, hurried forth by fearful angels, Then friends and kindred she forgetteth, Then passed are vanity and labour; She sees the ineffable tribunal : Where we, too, cry with suppliant moan, For the sins that soul hath done, Grant Thy pardon, Holy One! Now all the organs of the body, So full of energy before, Have lost perception, know not motion, Can suffer and can act no more. The eyes are closed in death's dark shadow; The ear can never hear again; The feet are bound; the hands lie idle; The tongue is fast as with a chain. Great and mighty though he be, Behold and weep me, friends and brethren! Voice, sense, and breath, and motion gone; But yesterday I dwelt among you; Then death's most fearful hour came on. Embrace me with the last embracement; Kiss me with this, the latest kiss; Never again shall I be with you; Never with you share woe or bliss. I go toward the dread tribunal Where no man's person preferred; Where lord and slave, where chief and soldier, I pray you, brethren, I adjure you, Pour forth to CHRIST the ceaseless prayer, He would not doom me to Gehenna, But in His glory give me share! IDIOMELA FOR ALL SAINTS. τὰς ἑδρὰς τὰς αἰωνίας. Those eternal bowers Man hath never trod, Those unfading flowers Round the Throne of GOD: Who may hope to gain them Who at length attain them Clad in robes of white ? He, who gladly barters All on earthly ground; Is a life of love; Of the Blest above. F Shame upon you, legions Past imagining! What! with pipe and tabor Fool away the light, When He bids you labour, When He tells you,-'Fight!' While I do my duty, Struggling through the tide, Whisper Thou of beauty On the other side! Tell who will the story Oh the loveliness! |