A DIALOGUE.
64 lines✦
O happy happy land!Angels like rushes standAbout the wells of light."--"Alas, I have not eyes for this fair sight:Hold fast my hand."-- "As in a soft wind, theyBend all one blessed way,Each bowed in his own glory, star with star."--"I cannot see so far,Here shadows are."-- "White-winged the cherubim,Yet whiter seraphim,Glow white with intense fire of love."--"Mine eyes are dim:I look in vain above,And miss their hymn."-- "Angels, Archangels cryOne to other ceaselessly(I hear them sing)One 'Holy, Holy, Holy,' to their King."--"I do not hear them, I."-- "Joy to thee, Paradise,--Garden and goal and nest!Made green for wearied eyes;Much softer than the breastOf mother-dove clad in a rainbow's dyes. "All precious souls are thereMost safe, elect by grace,All tears are wiped forever from their face:Untired in prayerThey wait and praise,Hidden for a little space. "Boughs of the Living Vine,They spread in summer shineGreen leaf with leaf:Sap of the Royal Vine, it stirs like wineIn all both less and chief. "Sing to the Lord,All spirits of all flesh, sing;For He hath not abhorredOur low estate nor scorned our offering:Shout to our King."-- "But Zion said:My Lord forgetteth me.Lo, she hath made her bedIn dust; forsaken weepeth sheWhere alien rivers swell the sea. "She laid her body as the ground,Her tender body as the ground to thoseWho passed; her harpstrings cannot soundIn a strange land; discrownedShe sits, and drunk with woes."-- "O drunken not with wine,Whose sins and sorrows have fulfilled the sum,--Be not afraid, arise, be no more dumb;Arise, shine,For thy light is come."-- "Can these bones live?"--"God knows:The prophet saw such clothed with flesh and skinA wind blew on them and life entered in;They shook and rose.Hasten the time, O Lord, blot out their sin,Let life begin."
✦