Zinzendorff and Other Poems/Death of an Aged Man
DEATH OF AN AGED MAN.
Rise, weary spirit, to a realm of rest!
Sorrow hath had her will of thee, and Pain,
With a destroyer's fury prob'd thy breast,
But thou, the victory through Christ didst gain;
Rise, freed from stain.
Years wrote their history on thy furrow'd brow
In withering lines; and Time like ocean's foam
Swept o'er the shores of hope, till thou didst know
Earth's emptiness. But now no more to roam
Pass to thy home.
Blest filial Love rescu'd its freshest wreath
Of changeless green and blooming buds for thee,
And o'er thy bosom threw its grateful breath,
When the waste world, but weeds of misery
Spread for thine eye.
Take up the triumph-song, thou who didst bow
So long and meekly, 'neath the Chastener's rod,
Thou, whose firm faith beheld with raptur'd glow
The resurrection cleave the burial-sod,
Go to thy God.