THE CELESTIAL COUNTRY
Beside thy living waters
All plants are, great and small,
The cedar of the forest,
The hyssop of the wall.
With jaspers glow thy bulwarks;
Thy streets with emeralds blaze;
The sardius and the topaz
Unite in thee their rays:
Thine ageless walls are bounded
With amethyst unpriced;
Thy saints build up its fabric,
And the corner-stone is Christ.
THE Cross is all thy splendor,
The Crucified thy praise:
His laud and benediction
Thy ransomed people raise;
Jesus, the Gem of Beauty,
True God and Man, they sing;
The never-failing Garden,
The ever-golden Ring:
The Door, the Pledge, the Husband,
The Guardian of His Court;
The Day-star of Salvation,
The Porter and the Port;
Thou hast no shore, fair ocean!
Thou has no time, bright day!
Dear fountain of refreshment
14
