‘ Oh happy happy land! Angels like rushes stand About the wells of light.’ — ‘ Alas, I have not eyes for this fair sight:
Hold fast my hand.’ — ‘ As in a soft wind, they Bend all one blessed way, Each bowed in his own glory, star with star.’ —
‘ I cannot see so far, Here shadows are.’ — ‘ White-winged the cherubim, Yet whiter seraphim,
Glow white with intense fire of love.’ — ‘ Mine eyes are dim: I look in vain above, And miss their hymn.’ —
‘ Angels, Archangels cry One to other ceaselessly ( I hear them sing ) One “Holy, Holy, Holy” to their King.’ —
‘ I do not hear them, I.’ — ‘ At one side Paradise Is curtained from the rest, Made green for wearied eyes;
Much softer than the breast Of mother-dove clad in a rainbow's dyes. ‘ All precious souls are there Most safe, elect by grace,
All tears are wiped for ever from their face: Untired in prayer They wait and praise Hidden for a little space.
‘ Boughs of the Living Vine They spread in summer shine Green leaf with leaf: Sap of the Royal Vine it stirs like wine
In all both less and chief. ‘ Sing to the Lord, All spirits of all flesh, sing; For He hath not abhorred
Our low estate nor scorn'd our offering: Shout to our King.’ — ‘ But Zion said: My Lord forgetteth me.
Lo, she hath made her bed In dust; forsaken weepeth she Where alien rivers swell the sea. ‘ She laid her body as the ground,
Her tender body as the ground to those Who passed; her harpstrings cannot sound In a strange land; discrowned She sits, and drunk with woes.’ —
‘ O drunken not with wine, Whose sins and sorrows have fulfilled the sum,— Be not afraid, arise, be no more dumb; Arise, shine,
For thy light is come.’ — ‘ Can these bones live?’ — ‘ God knows: The prophet saw such clothed with flesh and skin;
A wind blew on them and life entered in; They shook and rose. Hasten the time, O Lord, blot out their sin, Let life begin.’
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