Over the river they beckon to me, Loved ones who've crossed to the further side; The gleam of their snowy robes I see, But their voices are lost in the dashing tide. There's one with ringlets of sunny gold, And eyes the reflection of heaven's own blue; He crossed in the twilight gray and cold, And the pale mist hid him from mortal view; We saw not the angels who met him there, The gates of the city we could not seeOver the river, over the river, My brother stands waiting to welcome me. Over the river the boatman pale Carried another, the household pet; Her brown curls wave in the gentle gale, Darling Minnie! I see her yet. She crossed on her bosom her dimpled hands, And fearlessly entered the phantom bark; We felt it glide from the silver sands, And all our sunshine grew strangely dark; We know she is safe on the further side, Where all the ransomed and angels beOver the river, the mystic river, My childhood's idol is waiting for me. MISS PRIEST. We may believe That we shall know each other's forms hereafter; And in the bright fields of the better land WILLIS. In that pure home of tearless joy Earth's parted friends shall meet, With smiles of love that never fade, And blessedness complete; There, there adieus are sounds unknown; Death frowns not on that scene, But life, and glorious beauty, shine, Untroubled and serene. R. TURNBULL. Blest hour when righteous souls shall meet, On an immortal shore! ANONYMOUS. Father, convey us safely home, Yet shall we meet again in peace, BONAR. A dungeon horrible on all sides round, No light; but rather darkness visible MILTON. Horror and doubt distract Me miserable! which way shall I fly Divines and dying men may talk of hell, There is a place, deep, wondrous deep below, Endless as those dire pains that in it dwell. No gentle stars, with their fair gems of light The keen vibration of bright truth is hell; "Would'st know," he said, "why Pain, and Fear, and Night, With dark and desolate pinions o'er him sweep? Learn thou that sin clouds heaven from human He sowed as he doth reap! Wide was the place, His troubled thoughts, and from the bottom of dark damnation broke, and music made stir The hell within him; for within him hell hell One step, no more than from himself, can fly MILTON. Of melancholy sort. Through all that dungeon of unfading fire, POLLOK. A groan returned! the righteous heard the All that hath been that ought not to have been, groan; As if all misery, all sorrow, grief, All pain, all anguish, all despair, which all Have suffered, or shall feel, from first to last, Eternity had gathered to one pang, And issued in one groan of boundless woe! POLLOK. Lucifer.-Behold my world! man never knows How near it comes to him; but swathed in clouds, As though in plumed and palled state, it steals Hearse-like and thief-like round the universe, Forever rolling and returning not, Robbing all worlds of many an angel-soul; With its light hidden in its breast, which burns With all concentrate and superfluent woe. Be sure that this is hell! BAILEY. Heaven and hell, with their joy and pain, Are now and here. Back to thyself is measured well All thou hast given; Thy neighbor's wrong is thy present hell, His bliss thy heaven. WHITTIER. And o'er his half crazed fancy came A vision of the eternal flame, Its smoking cloud of agonies, Its demon-worm that never dies, The everlasting rise and fall Of fire-waves round the infernal wall. That might have been so different, that now Cannot but be irrevocably past! STARKEY. [See also JUDGMENT-DAY.] HEROISM-(See COURAGE.) HOLY SPIRIT. The Holy Spirit thou hast given, The wondrous pledge of love divine, Who fills our hearts with joys of heaven, And bids us earthly toys resign; O let his seal be on my heart, O take him never more away, Until this fleshly house decay, And thou shalt bid me hence depart. From the German of FREELINGHAUSEN. O Holy Ghost! thou fire divine! KING ROBERT of France, A. D. 1000. He to his own a Comforter will send, write, To guide them in all truth. |