Hermione and other poems [electronic text]

THE THINGS THAT WILL NOT DIE

WHAT am I glad will stay when I have passedFrom this dear valley of the world, and stand On yon snow-glimmering peaks, and lingering cast From that dim land A backward look, and haply stretch my hand, Regretful, now the wish comes true at last?

Sweet strains of music I am glad will be Still wandering down the wind, for men will hear And think themselves from all their care set free, And heaven near

When summer stars burn very still and clear, And waves of sound are swelling like the sea.

And it is good to know that overhead Blue skies will brighten, and the sun will shine, And flowers be sweet in many a garden bed, And all divine, (For are they not, O Father, thoughts of thine?) Earth's warmth and fragrance shall on men be shed.

And I am glad that Night will always come, Hushing all sounds, even the soft-voiced birds, Putting away all light from her deep dome, Until are heard In the wide starlight's stillness, unknown words,

That make the heart ache till it find its home.

And I am glad that neither golden sky, Nor violet lights that linger on the hill, Nor ocean's wistful blue shall satisfy, But they shall fill With wild unrest and endless longing still, The soul whose hope beyond them all must lie.

And I rejoice that love shall never seem So perfect as it ever was to be, But endlessly that inner haunting dream Each heart shall see Hinted in every dawn's fresh purity, Hopelessly shadowed in each sunset's gleam.

And though warm mouths will kiss and hands will cling, And thought by silent thought be understood,

I do rejoice that the next hour will bring That far off mood, That drives one like a lonely child to God, Who only sees and measures everything.

And it is well that when these feet have pressed The outward path from earth, 'twill not seem sad To them that stay; but they who love me best Will be most glad That such a long unquiet now has had, At last, a gift of perfect peace and rest.