Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul

by Unknown

LIFE

Life! I know not what thou art,

But know that thou and I must part;

And when, or how, or where we met

I own to me's a secret yet.

But this I know—when thou art fled,

Where'er they lay these limbs, this head,

No clod so valueless shall be

As all that there remains of me.

O whither, whither dost thou fly?

Where bend unseen thy trackless course?

And in this strange divorce,

Ah, tell where I must seek this compound, I?

Life! we've been long together,

Through pleasant and through cloudy weather;

'Tis hard to part when friends are dear.

Perhaps 'twill cost a sigh, a tear;

Then steal away, give little warning,

Choose thine own time;

Say not "Good Night," but in some brighter clime

Bid me "Good Morning."

—Anna Letitia Barbauld.

———

THE STRUGGLE

"Body, I pray you, let me go!"

(It is a soul that struggles so.)

"Body, I see on yonder height

Dim reflex of a solemn light;

A flame that shineth from the place

Where Beauty walks with naked face;

It is a flame you cannot see—

Lie down, you clod, and set me free.

"Body, I pray you, let me go!"

(It is a soul that striveth so.)

"Body, I hear dim sounds afar

Dripping from some diviner star;

Dim sounds of joyous harmony,

It is my mates that sing, and I

Must drink that song or break my heart—

Body, I pray you, let us part.

"Comrade, your frame is worn and frail,

Your vital powers begin to fail;

I long for life, but you for rest;

Then, Body, let us both be blest.

When you are lying 'neath the dew

I'll come sometimes, and sing to you;

But you will feel no pain nor woe—

Body, I pray you, let me go."

Thus strove a Being. Beauty fain,

He broke his bonds and fled amain.

He fled: the Body lay bereft,

But on its lips a smile was left,

As if that spirit, looking back,

Shouted upon his upward track,

With joyous tone and hurried breath,

Some message that could comfort Death.

—Danske Dandridge.

———

THE THREE FRIENDS

Man in his life hath three good friends—

Wealth, family, and noble deeds;

These serve him in his days of joy

And minister unto his needs.

But when the lonely hour of death

With sad and silent foot draws nigh,

Wealth, then, and family take their wings,

And from the dying pillow fly.

But noble deeds in love respond,

"Ere came to thee the fatal day,

We went before, O gentle friend,

And smoothed the steep and thorny way."

—From the Hebrew, tr. by Frederic Rowland Marvin.

———

AN OLD LATIN HYMN

How far from here to heaven?

Not very far, my friend;

A single hearty step

Will all thy journey end.

Hold, there! where runnest thou?

Know heaven is in thee!

Seek'st thou for God elsewhere?

His face thou'lt never see.

Go out, God will go in;

Die thou, and let him live;

Be not, and he will be;

Wait, and he'll all things give.

I don't believe in death.

If hour by hour I die,

'Tis hour by hour to gain

A better life thereby.

—Angelus Silesius, A.D. 1620.

———

The chamber where the good man meets his fate

Is privileged beyond the common walk

Of virtuous life, quite in the verge of heaven.

—Edward Young.

———

Life-embarked, out at sea, 'mid the wave-tumbling roar,

The poor ship of my body went down to the floor;

But I broke, at the bottom of death, through a door,

And, from sinking, began for ever to soar.

—From the Persian.

———

Truths that wake to perish never;

Which neither listlessness, nor mad endeavor,

Nor man, nor boy,

Nor all that is at enmity with joy

Can utterly abolish or destroy!

Hence in a season of calm weather,

Though inland far we be,

Our souls have sight of that immortal sea

Which brought us hither;

Can in a moment travel thither

And see the children sport upon the shore,

And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore.

—William Wordsworth.

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