dreamed I drew my parting breath,
And fell, in sinking swoon of death,
To gulfs of utter night all chilly,
While woven hands held me close beneath.
And then, as thousand lights on shore,
The radiant forms I'd known before;
And growing sound of kindly voices,
And flood of light through an open door.
And, lo, at stern and prow there stands,
Close-veiled, an angel winged!—the sands
Beneath the shallop's keel wake music;
Folded am I by the piercëd hands!
he world's a train at speeding rate;
An iron track its wheels await;
We're all on board—beyond is darkness,
For God is only a name for Fate."
Thus mouths and blasphemes round about
An age in bondage to its doubt.
"Pray!" says the soul, and God, and Christ—and
Freedom affirm with a ringing shout
"Believe in God, believe in Me,"
Is freedom's voice like sounding sea,
Its grand AMEN from Him that liveth
And holds of this, and all worlds, the key.