And are returned feel for the dead.
Nor could they sorrow overmuch
For homes bereaved and loved ones slain,
Who knew grief's sanctifying touch,
God's high economy of pain
And treasuring of tears and wise
Investment of all sacrifice;
How that of all true warriors none
Save for eternal issues die,
Nor any suffer but have won
Untold access of gain thereby
To men and angels. Thus aware
And envious of the mighty strife,
They pressed about the Arbiter
And sued Him for the gift of life
On earth, that there they too might share
The conflict. First He told them of
The cost,—how thick earth's darkness lies,
How rarefied its air of love,
How foolhardy its sacrifice.
He bowed their heads, He closed their eyes
To Heaven's scene, and hid His face,
And those fair records did erase
Their memories of Paradise.
So did these radiant beings come
To earth, their covenant with Heaven
All unremembered, but so graven
Upon their hearts they felt its power
Constraining them to some great hour,
Coercing them to martyrdom.
Till when the great occasion broke
They heard the summons and awoke
And knew their calling. And we saw
Some inkling of the cause was theirs
Beyond our ken, some deeper awe
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