Poems (Hoffman)/The Spirit Realm
THE SPIRIT REALM
Poets have sung of the spirit realmAnd sages discoursed in tones sublimeOf the land where the saints and angels dwell,And to-day their thoughts flood the aisles of time.
But what do we know of the great unknown!!Though we listen in rapture to song and speech,The bard and the prophet went forth aloneTo learn what they one day strove to teach.
What though their names honor the scroll of fameAnd are uttered by thousands o'er sea and land,Go read on cold sculptured stones the namesOf those who strove vainly to understand.
O problem, solved on the other sideBy those who have passed through the pearly gate!Martyrs have sung of thy joys and diedBut gave not a glimpse of the soul's estate.
Doubtless they comprehend the wholeOf the mystery we fain would know,But alas! though measureless ages rollThey return no more to this world below.
Full many a lofty line and pageHave life's earnest workers left behind,But oh, for a glimpse of their heritageIn the realms they journeyed forth to find.
We may search for the secrets of the deep,We may study the stellar worlds on high;But not 'till our eyes close in endless sleepShall we fathom the things that our search defy.
We only know a great mystery,Unknown to us now, shall be known some day,When with clearer vision our eyes shall seeThe mists of uncertainty rolled away.
O revelation, beyond all thought!When the old shall perish before the new,How narrow the knowledge time has taught,When mortals shall know as the angels do.