Poetical Fragments from Ethel Churchill Volume II/The Influence of the Dead
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE DEAD.
Who are the Spirits watching by the dead?
Faith, from whose eyes a solemn light is shed;
And Hope, with far-off sunshine on the head.
The influence of the dead is that of Heaven;
To it a majesty of power is given,
Working on earth with a diviner leaven.
To them belongs all high and holy thought:
The mind, whose mighty empire they have wrought;
And grief, whose comfort was by angels brought.
And gentle Pity comes, and brings with her
Those pensive dreams that their own light confer;
While Love stands watching by the sepulchre.
In Blanchard
In The New York Mirror (24th March 1838), as The Kind Spirits