Poems (Van Vorst)/Amor Victrix
AMOR VICTRIX
Strong Death, proud power invisible, even now
Slowly thou drawest near me in the dark,—
And though within me the clear glowing spark
Of life is warm and beats in heart and brow,
My body shall grow colder, till I bow,
White as the ash, thine unresisting mark.
But for the word from the veiled years I hark,—
As calm and as invincible as Thou.
And when at last I feel thy kisses,—Death,—
My fading lips shall smiling tell thee this—
"Master thou art not! On my Spirit's shrine
Deathless, although the altar crumbleth,
Ascend twin flames in one,—to find God's bliss,
As God immortal,—my Love's love and mine!"
Slowly thou drawest near me in the dark,—
And though within me the clear glowing spark
Of life is warm and beats in heart and brow,
My body shall grow colder, till I bow,
White as the ash, thine unresisting mark.
But for the word from the veiled years I hark,—
As calm and as invincible as Thou.
And when at last I feel thy kisses,—Death,—
My fading lips shall smiling tell thee this—
"Master thou art not! On my Spirit's shrine
Deathless, although the altar crumbleth,
Ascend twin flames in one,—to find God's bliss,
As God immortal,—my Love's love and mine!"