Poems (Hoffman)/The Heavenly Jerusalem

by Martha Lavinia Hoffman

THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM

Not a vast realm of haloed space
Where mellow beams soft shadows chase
And seas of loveliness unrolled
Gush out in streams of liquid gold,
Where forms invisible abide,
Where throngs of spirit-saints reside,
Where unseen choirs glad anthems swell,
Weird, shapeless and intangible,
Wrought from the twilight's filmy threads,
Woven with Mystery's silken shreds,
Not such a labyrinth as this
Shall be the goal of happiness.

O not in such a dream-like spell
Shall the redeemed forever dwell!
There is a City builded in the skies
Where glory never fades or beauty dies,
We know not where its matchless joys unfurl,
We cannot see one massive gate of pearl;
But real as any citadel of ours
Eternal sunshine bathes its burnished towers,
Her twelve foundations all of precious stones
Purer than any gem in Glory's throne
Shall stand unshaken in their wondrous plan
When crumbled lie the mightiest works of man.