Zinzendorff and Other Poems/Death of an Aged Man


DEATH OF AN AGED MAN.


Rise, weary spirit, to a realm of rest!
    Sorrow hath had her will of thee, and Pain,
With a destroyer's fury prob'd thy breast,
    But thou, the victory through Christ didst gain;
                                     Rise, freed from stain.

Years wrote their history on thy furrow'd brow
    In withering lines; and Time like ocean's foam
Swept o'er the shores of hope, till thou didst know
    Earth's emptiness. But now no more to roam
                                     Pass to thy home.

Blest filial Love rescu'd its freshest wreath
    Of changeless green and blooming buds for thee,
And o'er thy bosom threw its grateful breath,
    When the waste world, but weeds of misery
                                     Spread for thine eye.


Take up the triumph-song, thou who didst bow
    So long and meekly, 'neath the Chastener's rod,
Thou, whose firm faith beheld with raptur'd glow
    The resurrection cleave the burial-sod,
                                     Go to thy God.