"Must it be so? Is this my fate?
Can I nor struggle, nor contend?
And am I doomed for years to wait, Watching death's lingering axe descend?
"And when it falls, and when I die, What follows? Vacant nothingness?
The blank of lost identity?
Erasure both of pain and bliss?
"I've heard of heaven--I would believe;For if this earth indeed be all, Who longest lives may deepest grieve;Most blest, whom sorrows soonest call.
"Oh! leaving disappointment here, Will man find hope on yonder coast?
Hope, which, on earth, shines never clear, And oft in clouds is wholly lost.
"Will he hope's source of light behold, Fruition's spring, where doubts expire, And drink, in waves of living gold, Contentment, full, for long desire?
"Will he find bliss, which here he dreamed?
Rest, which was weariness on earth?
Knowledge, which, if o'er life it beamed, Served but to prove it void of worth?
"Will he find love without lust's leaven, Love fearless, tearless, perfect, pure, To all with equal bounty given;In all, unfeigned, unfailing, sure?
"Will he, from penal sufferings free, Released from shroud and wormy clod, All calm and glorious, rise and see Creation's Sire--Existence' God?
"Then, glancing back on Time's brief woes, Will he behold them, fading, fly;Swept from Eternity's repose, Like sullying cloud from pure blue sky?
"If so, endure, my weary frame;And when thy anguish strikes too deep, And when all troubled burns life's flame, Think of the quiet, final sleep;"Think of the glorious waking-hour, Which will not dawn on grief and tears, But on a ransomed spirit's power, Certain, and free from mortal fears.
"Seek now thy couch, and lie till morn, Then from thy chamber, calm, descend, With mind nor tossed, nor anguish-torn, But tranquil, fixed, to wait the end.
"And when thy opening eyes shall see Mementos, on the chamber wall, Of one who has forgotten thee, Shed not the tear of acrid gall.