At Home in Heaven

Anon the clouds depart,

The winds and waters cease;

While sweetly o'er my gladdened heart
Expands the bow of peace!

Beneath its glowing arch,

Along the hallowed ground, I see cherubic armies march, A camp of fire around.

I hear at morn and even,

At noon and midnight hour,
The choral harmonies of heaven
Earth's Babel-tongues o'erpower.

Then, then I feel that He,

(Remembered or forgot,)

The Lord, is never far from me,
Though I perceive Him not.

PART II

In darkness as in light,
Hidden alike from view,

I sleep, I wake, as in His sight
Who looks all nature through.

From the dim hour of birth,
Through every changing state
Of mortal pilgrimage on earth,
Till its appointed date;

All that I am, have been,

All that I yet may be,

He sees at once, as He hath seen,
And shall forever see.

How can I meet His eyes?

Mine on the cross I cast,

And own my life a Saviour's prize,

Mercy from first to last

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"Forever with the Lord:"

Father, if 'tis Thy will,

The promise of that faithful word
Even here to me fulfil!

So, when my latest breath
Shall rend the veil in twain,
By death I shall escape from death,
And life eternal gain.

Knowing as I am known

How shall I love that word, And oft repeat before the throne, "For ever with the Lord!"

Then though the soul enjoy
Communion high and sweet,
While worms this body must destroy,
Both shall in glory meet.

The trump of final doom

Will speak the self-same word,

And heaven's voice thunder through the tomb, "For ever with the Lord!"

The tomb shall echo deep

That death-awakening sound;

The saints shall hear it in their sleep

And answer from the ground.

Then upward as they fly,

That resurrection-word

Shall be their shout of victory, "For ever with the Lord!"

That resurrection-word,

That shout of victory,

Once more,- -"For ever with the Lord!"

Amen, so let it be.

Tames Montgomery [1771-1854]

Paradise

PARADISE

ONCE in a dream I saw the flowers
That bud and bloom in Paradise;
More fair they are than waking eyes
Have seen in all this world of ours,
And faint the perfume-bearing rose,
And faint the lily on its stem,
And faint the perfect violet,
Compared with them.

I heard the songs of Paradise;
Each bird sat singing in its place;
A tender song so full of grace
It soared like incense to the skies.
Each bird sat singing to its mate
Soft cooing notes among the trees:
The nightingale herself were cold
To such as these.

I saw the fourfold River flow,

And deep it was, with golden sand; It flowed between a mossy land With murmured music grave and low. It hath refreshment for all thirst,

For fainting spirit strength and rest:
Earth holds not such a draught as this
From east to west.

The Tree of Life stood budding there,
Abundant with its twelvefold fruits;
Eternal sap sustains its roots,

Its shadowing branches fill the air.
Its leaves are healing for the world,

Its fruit the hungry world can feed,
Sweeter than honey to the taste

And balm indeed.

I saw the Gate called Beautiful;

And looked, but scarce could look within;

I saw the golden streets begin,

And outskirts of the glassy pool.

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Oh harps, oh crowns of plenteous stars,
Oh green palm branches, many-leaved-
Eye hath not seen, nor ear hath heard,
Nor heart conceived.

I hope to see these things again,
But not as once in dreams by night;
To see them with my very sight,
And touch and handle and attain:
To have all heaven beneath my feet
For narrow way that once they trod;
To have my part with all the saints,
And with my God.

Christina Georgina Rossetti [1830-1894]

"HEAVEN OVERARCHES EARTH AND SEA"

HEAVEN Overarches earth and sea,
Earth-sadness and sea-bitterness.

Heaven overarches you and me:
A little while and we shall be-
Please God-where there is no more sea
Nor barren wilderness.

Heaven overarches you and me,

And all earth's gardens and her graves.
Look up with me, until we see

The day break and the shadows flee.

What though to-night wrecks you and me,

If so to-morrow saves?

Christina Georgina Rossetti [1830-1894]

THE SUNSET CITY

THERE'S a city that lies in the Kingdom of Clouds,
In the glorious country on high,

Which an azure and silvery curtain enshrouds,
To screen it from mortal eye;

Gradatim

A city of temples and turrets of gold,
That gleam by a sapphire sea,

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Like jewels more splendid than earth may behold,
Or are dreamed of by you and by me.

And about it are highlands of amber that reach
Far away till they melt in the gloom;
And waters that hem an immaculate beach

With fringes of luminous foam.

Aerial bridges of pearl there are,

And belfries of marvelous shapes,
And lighthouses lit by the evening star,
That sparkle on violet capes;

And hanging gardens that far away
Enchantedly float aloof;

Rainbow pavilions in avenues gay,
And banners of glorious woof!

When the Summer sunset's crimsoning fires
Are aglow in the western sky,

The pilgrim discovers the domes and spires
Of this wonderful city on high;

And gazing enrapt as the gathering shade
Creeps over the twilight lea,

Sees palace and pinnacle totter and fade,
And sink in the sapphire sea;

Till the vision loses by slow degrees

The magical splendor it wore;

The silvery curtain is drawn, and he sees

The beautiful city no more!

Henry Sylvester Cornwell [1831-1886]

GRADATIM

HEAVEN is not reached at a single bound;
But we build the ladder by which we rise
From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies,
And we mount to its summit round by round.