The Poetical Works of Jonathan E. Hoag/The Beautiful Boon of Death
The Beautiful Boon of Death
Tenderly Inscribed to Jonathan E. Hoag, author of "Death"
If life is linked with Eternal Life
By the mystical chain of change;
If the earth is a place of futile strife
And a dream that is vague and strange;
If there is a land of cloudless skies,
Where the heart is free from pain,
Where the spirit-body never dies,
Where never is loss, but gain—
Why grieves my spirit to leave this earth,
Whose joy is an empty breath,
When that which is called decease is birth?—
O the beautiful boon of Death!
John Milton Samples.
By the mystical chain of change;
If the earth is a place of futile strife
And a dream that is vague and strange;
If there is a land of cloudless skies,
Where the heart is free from pain,
Where the spirit-body never dies,
Where never is loss, but gain—
Why grieves my spirit to leave this earth,
Whose joy is an empty breath,
When that which is called decease is birth?—
O the beautiful boon of Death!
John Milton Samples.