Poems (Jordan)/"He is Not Here"
"HE IS NOT HERE"
"Come see where He lay;" 'tis the only spot
In all the realm of the Here, and the There,
That Christ the living Redeemer is not—
The one vast void in His Everywhere!
In all the realm of the Here, and the There,
That Christ the living Redeemer is not—
The one vast void in His Everywhere!
We measure the size of this vacant tomb
By the stature of the arisen One;
And, by the light of His Presence, the gloom
Of the place from which that Presence is gone!
By the stature of the arisen One;
And, by the light of His Presence, the gloom
Of the place from which that Presence is gone!
But hearts cannot measure the emptiness
Which holds for us all the spoils that He won!
Nor can Longing compass with loneliness
Its authorized promise of reunion!
Which holds for us all the spoils that He won!
Nor can Longing compass with loneliness
Its authorized promise of reunion!
We may measure the weapons of a strife,
We may glimpse through the face the soul that it hides,
But to measure the Grave which held all Life,—
No line for this God in Nature provides!
We may glimpse through the face the soul that it hides,
But to measure the Grave which held all Life,—
No line for this God in Nature provides!
And we cannot measure its Easter-side
By the longest hope extending from earth,
But by the heart's cry, "I am satisfied!"
Heaven places against Time's totalled dearth!
By the longest hope extending from earth,
But by the heart's cry, "I am satisfied!"
Heaven places against Time's totalled dearth!