Zinzendorff and Other Poems/"She is not dead, but sleepeth"

4045636Zinzendorff and Other Poems"She is not dead, but sleepeth"1836Lydia Huntley Sigourney


"SHE IS NOT DEAD, BUT SLEEPETH."


Not dead? A marble seal is prest,
    Where her bright glance did part,
A weight is on the pulseless breast,
    And ice around the heart;
No more she wakes with greeting smile,
    Gay voice, and buoyant tread,
But yet ye calmly say the while,
    She sleeps, she is not dead.

"Mourn'st thou for clay alone?" Behold
    A voice from Heaven replied,
"Then be thine anguish uncontrol'd,
    Thy tears a heathen tide;
Thine idol was that vestment fair
    Which wraps the spirit free,
Earth, air and water claim their share,
    Say! which shall comfort thee?

But the strong mind whose heaven-born thought
    No earthly chain could bind,
The holy heart divinely fraught
    With love to all mankind,
The humble soul whose early trust
    Was with its God on high,
These were thy Sister, who in dust
    May sleep, but cannot die."