Poems (Hazlett-Bevis)/After While

by Sophia Courtoulde Hazlett-Bevis

For works with similar titles, see After While.

After While.

After while, when the years are gone,
 And time no more shall be;
When night comes not, nor break of dawn.
 Nor wash of wave at sea;
When all is calm: no winds to stir,
 No moon, no sun, no stars;
And neither laugh, nor soft murmur,
 Is heard 'neath sodden bars.

What will the meaning be to you?
 Ah. what will it mean to me?
Will skies anew, be just as blue,
 In the vast eternity?
Eternity! Is it here, or there?
 Does it mean forever and aye?
With a day of rest, that reaches where
 Is eternal bye and bye.

Shall we never look back "after while?"
 Will memory deadened be?
Would you have it so, with never a smile.
 For a joy that used to be?
If labor is wafted forever away,
 Will heaven not slowly pall,
With its beauty and sweetness in one long day
 And make of us drones for all?

Oh, the misty gray of this "after while,"
 With what is its meaning fraught,
As we journey along, mile after mile,
 With experience dearly bought?
Does it mean that with love, and perfect trust
 And a life that hath no guile,
Brings sure to us, as we're taught it must,
 Great joy in this "after while."

Or shall we gaze blankly, with wide staring eyes,
 Knowing no love, nor no hate;
Indifferent to all, no glad, sweet surprise
 To greet as we stand at the gate;
The loved ones we've lost, now found but to lose,
 For if they're the same to us all;
No difference shown, nothing to choose,
 'Twill be naught but"wormwood and gall."

Oh, better by far, if ties be thus riven,
 The grave with its long dreamless sleep;
For even to one"unto whom it is given,"
 Twere better, than waken to weep;
Hopes that were cherished through pain-stricken years,
 How we watched their bright light 'long the line!
To have them cast down after suffering and fears—
 Then that is no Heaven of mine.