<<  IN HEAVEN  >>

OFT weeping memory sits alone,
Beside some grave, at even,
And calls upon some spirit flown,
O, say, shall those on earth our own
Be ours again in heaven ?

Amid these lone, sepulchral shades,
Where sleep our dear ones riven,
Is not some lingering spirit near,
To tell if those, divided here,
Unite and know in heaven ?

Shall friends who o'er the waste of life
By the same storms are driven,
Shall they recount, in realms of bliss,
The fortunes and the tears of this,
And love again in heaven ?

When hearts which have on earth been one
By ruthless death are riven,
Why does the one which death has reft
Drag off in grief the one that's left,
If not to meet in heaven ?

The warmest love on earth is still
Imperfect when 'tis given ;
But there's a purer clime above,
Where perfect hearts in perfect love
Unite ; and this in heaven.

If love on earth is but in part,
As light and shade at even,
If sin doth plant a thorn between
The truest hearts, there is, I ween,
A perfect love in heaven.

O, happy world ! O, glorious place !
Where all who are forgiven
Shall find their loved and lost below,
And hearts, like meeting streams, shall flow
Forever me, in heaven.