And the joys bless'd spirits prove,

Far exceeds all earthly love!"

CHAPTER VIII
Wearing Mourning for the Dead

"What is death?--my sister, say."

"Ask not, brother, breathing clay.

Ask the earth on which we tread,

That silent empire of the dead.

Ask the sea--its myriad waves,

Living, leap o'er countless graves!"

"Earth and ocean answer not,