Poems (Hale)/"I am the Resurrection and the Life"

by Mary Whitwell Hale

"I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE"

  List to the gracious voice,
That from the confines of the cheerless grave,
The cherished one to fond affection gave.
  O let the soul rejoice:
Even mid our yearning for the loved and dear,
One blessed ray the damp, cold grave can cheer.

  Ye who so late have bent,
In love's hushed stillness, round the bed of death,
Watching the last throe of the parting breath,—
  Ye who the prayer have sent,
Faithful and fervent, to the throne of God,
Through Him who once the same dark pathway trod,—

  Shall not the tear-drop fall,
Remembering her, the loved of many a heart,
So soon from earth and earth's bright things to part?
  It is not weakness all,
The tear ye shed upon her early bier,
Whose form shall ne'er on earth our presence cheer.

  Not with the fading leaf,
Can fade the perfume of the death-touched flower:
It cheers the heart in many a wintry hour.
  Though few indeed and brief,
The moments when it bloomed upon the sight,
Long shall each hue to memory's eye be bright.

  Thus shall it be with thee,
Sweet flower! that bloomed awhile upon our way,
Transplanted now to heaven's celestial day.
  Rich, glorious destiny!
Who would recall thee from that heavenly sphere,
Though ransomed by affection's holiest tear?

  Thou in the world above,
Canst bend thee, unsubdued by grief and wo,
At the pure fount whence living waters flow;
  While we, with trusting love,
Dwell on the pledge with joy and glory rife,—
"I am the Resurrection and the Life."