Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FICHTE'S GRAVE; DOROTHEENSTADT CEMEMTERY, BERLIN, by FREDERIC ROWLAND MARVIN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FICHTE'S GRAVE; DOROTHEENSTADT CEMEMTERY, BERLIN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Here rests a pilgrim at his journey's end
Last Line: The power to cleanse, illumine, and inspire.
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death; Fichte, Johann Gottlieb (1762-1814); Graves; Heaven; Rest; Graveyards; Dead, The; Tombs; Tombstones; Paradise


HERE rests a pilgrim at his journey's end,
Nor smiting sun nor blasting storms disturb
Repose well earned, his day of life well spent;
Sweet Death hath mixed for him her drowsy herb,
Infused a gentle slumber through his veins,
And on his brow impressed the kiss of peace;
Here joy and sorrow, equal strife to him,
And all his doubt, and love, and longing cease.

Hegel and Solger by his side repose,
And near, the gentle wife who loved him well;
Around his grave the evening shadows fall,
And through the tree-tops weave their wondrous spell;
Hard by the sculptured marble bears his name,
And words from Daniel's rapt and mystic page:
"Like the bright firmament the teachers shine;
And as the stars of heaven forevermore,
Who turn men's thoughts to righteousness and God,
And teach the heart to worship and adore."

Dear master of the thoughts of men, in love
Upon thy grave these humble lines I place;
O'er me the light of reason thou hast shed,
And all my doubts and brooding fears effaced;
The flame that Kant had kindled thou didst fan
To brighter radiance of thy heavenly fire;
Thy living words had wisdom to console,
The power to cleanse, illumine, and inspire.





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