softly, thus she spake:
"Dear Henry, rise and mourn no more for me,
Since I am in a sweet eternity,
And dwell in peace, and joy, and love, and songs,
Which are for ever gladly rising there.
Sweet were our days together spent below,
But sweeter far they shall be when above
We are united through unending days
With her, an angel too, who was our babe,
And who hath come to bear me presence here."
Then by the hand she took him, and thus spake
In kind and pleading words: "The laws of man
Would hold and deem it just that, if a man
In time of his prosperity forget
To render to his God a full return
Of thankfulness and praise, then he shall be
In time of his adversity forgot.
But God is more compassionate, and says
That if a man turn from his heedless ways,
And bear a true repentance, he shall live.
Then I, the spirit of your once fond wife,
Come from the realms of bliss, do thee adjure;
Turn to thy God, and give Him worship due,
And mourn not with a needless sorrow more.
Then, but a season longer, ye shall come
And join me in this never-ending bliss."
Awe-struck and dumb the wondering Henry stood,
And took communion from the Holy One;
In adoration bound, he knew not whence
To make an answer fit, and would have knelt,
Like as before a God, to worship them.
But, ere he knew, they had on pinions bright
Resumed their course unto the regions whence
He saw them come; and, with a wondering look,
He watched them still ascend, until the gates
Of heaven opened, and they entered in.
Then it was morn, and Henry woke from sleep,
And looked in wonder on the things around,
And felt bewildered for a time to know
How hither he had come, and whence the cause.
Then fragments of the dream broke on his mind,
And yet awhile the joys, the cares, the woes
Came clear in their intensity, as when
He had endured them in the days just gone.
The chilly numbness from his limbs removed,
He turned to wander homeward, being now
Refreshed by sleep and more in spirit soothed,
Reflecting long and deep on the stern truths
And troubles tending on the lives of men.
Then came the vision of the night before
Clear as the waters of a Summer stream,
And bore its beauties to his soul anew,
Wherefrom he saw a lucent line ascend,
Of comfort and of warning to his life,
Bidding his soul to higher things ascend,
As vapors rise--as vapors rise and flow--
To seek the presence of the sunny heights,
Sore of their sojourn in the sphere below;
And thus reflected