Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE FUNERAL, by LEVI BISHOP Poet's Biography First Line: There is a pang that spurns all soothing cares Last Line: Forever more adored his holy name! Subject(s): Death; Funerals; Memory; Time; Dead, The; Burials | ||||||||
There is a pang that spurns all soothing cares: The pang the mourner feels. It matters not If worldly goods and social worth be there, Refinement and the cultivated man. The case they meet not. Strong but tender cords, That link the heart to heart, the soul to soul, Are rudely snapt; and this by Hand that gives And takes at pleasure. When His rod afflicts, And He the trembling soul wrings from the lump Of vanquished clay, and dark and desolate The scene, nor tears nor moans nor magic wand Can change the stern, the final dread decree. In vain our sympathetic nature weeps; And all that we can say or do is vain: Dead silence is by far the better part. The heart that still survives is struck as with The hand of death. In moans and tears it may Relief obtain, but comfort none; no more Than can the pulseless heart for which it sighs. The rupture far too deep for aught but balm That comes from God direct. 'Tis He alone Can soothe our woe; and He can soothe it well. Who thus can wound, the pain can well allay; And time, in power to heal, stands next to Him. His instrument is time. and this He wields For wisest purposes. And time, old time Eternal is, except so far as He Shall cut it short. And time shall bear away Our woes, our pains, our sufferings, our name, Our memory -- all, as on a gentle, sweet, Delicious stream, to dark oblivion. And as we thus glide on, the pangs we felt We feel them less and less. The wounds are healed To rigid scars; and all by kindly means Which God vouchsafes and sends to our relief. Forever more adored His holy name! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FUNERAL SERMON by ANDREW HUDGINS RETURN FROM DELHI by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN THE SCATTERING OF EVAN JONES'S ASHES by GALWAY KINNELL BROWNING'S FUNERAL by H. T. MACKENZIE BELL FALLING ASLEEP OVER THE AENEID by ROBERT LOWELL MY FATHER'S BODY by WILLIAM MATTHEWS A HOP AT SARATOGA by LEVI BISHOP |
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