Does not the vision say,
Faint lingering heart, away,
Why in this desert stay-
Dark land of care!

Where souls angelic soar,
Thither repair:

Let this vain world no more
Lull and ensnare.

That heaven I love so well
Still in my heart shall dwell;
All things around me tell

Rest is found there.

Carolina Nairne [1766-1845]

AT HOME IN HEAVEN

PART I

"FOR EVER with the Lord!"

Amen! so let it be!

Life from the dead is in that word,

'Tis immortality.

Here in the body pent,

Absent from Him I roam,

Yet nightly pitch my moving tent
A day's march nearer home.

My Father's house on high,
Home of my soul! how near,
At times, to faith's foreseeing eye,
Thy golden gates appear!

Ah! then my spirit faints

To reach the land I love,

The bright inheritance of saints,
Jerusalem above!

Yet clouds will intervene,

And all my prospect flies; Like Noah's dove, I flit between

Rough seas and stormy skies.

At Home in Heaven

Anon the clouds depart,

The winds and waters cease;

While sweetly o'er my gladdened heart
Expands the bow of peace!

Beneath its glowing arch,

Along the hallowed ground, I see cherubic armies march, A camp of fire around.

I hear at morn and even,

At noon and midnight hour,
The choral harmonies of heaven
Earth's Babel-tongues o'erpower.

Then, then I feel that He,

(Remembered or forgot,)

The Lord, is never far from me,
Though I perceive Him not.

PART II

In darkness as in light,
Hidden alike from view,

I sleep, I wake, as in His sight
Who looks all nature through.

From the dim hour of birth,
Through every changing state
Of mortal pilgrimage on earth,
Till its appointed date;

All that I am, have been,

All that I yet may be,

He sees at once, as He hath seen,
And shall forever see.

How can I meet His eyes?

Mine on the cross I cast,

And own my life a Saviour's prize,

Mercy from first to last

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"Forever with the Lord:"

Father, if 'tis Thy will,

The promise of that faithful word
Even here to me fulfil!

So, when my latest breath
Shall rend the veil in twain,
By death I shall escape from death,
And life eternal gain.

Knowing as I am known

How shall I love that word, And oft repeat before the throne, "For ever with the Lord!"

Then though the soul enjoy

Communion high and sweet,
While worms this body must destroy,

Both shall in glory meet.

The trump of final doom

Will speak the self-same word,

And heaven's voice thunder through the tomb,

"For ever with the Lord!"

The tomb shall echo deep

That death-awakening sound;

The saints shall hear it in their sleep

And answer from the ground.

Then upward as they fly,

That resurrection-word Shall be their shout of victory, "For ever with the Lord!"

That resurrection-word,

That shout of victory,

Once more,-"For ever with the Lord!"

Amen, so let it be.

James Montgomery [1771-1854]

Paradise

PARADISE

ONCE in a dream I saw the flowers
That bud and bloom in Paradise;
More fair they are than waking eyes
Have seen in all this world of ours,
And faint the perfume-bearing rose,
And faint the lily on its stem,
And faint the perfect violet,
Compared with them.

I heard the songs of Paradise;
Each bird sat singing in its place;
A tender song so full of grace
It soared like incense to the skies.
Each bird sat singing to its mate
Soft cooing notes among the trees:
The nightingale herself were cold
To such as these.

I saw the fourfold River flow,

And deep it was, with golden sand; It flowed between a mossy land With murmured music grave and low. It hath refreshment for all thirst,

For fainting spirit strength and rest:
Earth holds not such a draught as this
From east to west.

The Tree of Life stood budding there,
Abundant with its twelvefold fruits;
Eternal sap sustains its roots,
Its shadowing branches fill the air.
Its leaves are healing for the world,

Its fruit the hungry world can feed,
Sweeter than honey to the taste

And balm indeed.

I saw the Gate called Beautiful;

And looked, but scarce could look within;

I saw the golden streets begin,

And outskirts of the glassy pool.

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Oh harps, oh crowns of plenteous stars,
Oh green palm branches, many-leaved-
Eye hath not seen, nor ear hath heard,
Nor heart conceived.

I hope to see these things again,
But not as once in dreams by night;
To see them with my very sight,
And touch and handle and attain:
To have all heaven beneath my feet
For narrow way that once they trod;
To have my part with all the saints,
And with my God.

Christina Georgina Rossetti [1830-1894]

"HEAVEN OVERARCHES EARTH AND SEA"

HEAVEN Overarches earth and sea,
Earth-sadness and sea-bitterness.

Heaven overarches you and me:
A little while and we shall be-
Please God-where there is no more sea
Nor barren wilderness.

Heaven overarches you and me,

And all earth's gardens and her graves.

The day break and the shadows flee.

What though to-night wrecks you and me,

If so to-morrow saves?

Christina Georgina Rossetti [1830–1894]

THE SUNSET CITY

THERE'S a city that lies in the Kingdom of Clouds,
In the glorious country on high,

Which an azure and silvery curtain enshrouds,
To screen it from mortal eye;