Religious Studies, Sketches and Poems - Harriet Beecher Stowe

Their life is music and accord;
Their souls and hearts keep time
In one sweet concert with the Lord,—
One concert vast, sublime.

And through the hymns they sang on earth
Sometimes a sweetness falls
On those they loved and left below,
And softly homeward calls,—

Bells from our own dear fatherland,
Borne trembling o'er the sea,—
The narrow sea that they have crossed,
The shores where we shall be.

O sing, sing on, belovèd souls!
Sing cares and griefs to rest;
Sing, till entrancèd we arise
To join you 'mong the blest

It lies around us like a cloud,
A world we do not see;
Yet the sweet closing of an eye
May bring us there to be.

Its gentle breezes fan our cheek;
Amid our worldly cares,
Its gentle voices whisper love,
And mingle with our prayers.

Sweet hearts around us throb and beat,
Sweet helping hands are stirred,
And palpitates the veil between
With breathings almost heard.