IN heaven, they say, is undisturbed and perfect peace; and yet Along our heart-strings, even there, a tremor of regret Must sometimes wander into pain, if memory survives, -- A grief, that in this good, great world we lived not larger lives. God moves our planet gloriously among His starry spheres; And nobler movements for our souls through these our mortal years, In widening orbits toward Himself eternally He planned: -- We creep and rust in treadmill grooves; we will not be made grand. He sent us forth, His children, of His inmost life a part; His breath, His being; each a throb of His deep Father-heart; He shaped us in His image, suns, to flood His worlds with day: -- Alas! we stifle down His light, and deaden into clay. Meant to be living fountains, -- not little stagnant pools, Stirred aimlessly from shallow depths, walled round with petty rules, Drying away to dust at last, -- to Him we might ascend, And with the River of His Life in crystal freshness blend. To share His freedom -- sons of God! There is no other aim Can kindle any human hope to an immortal flame! It is the keenest shame of these mean, lettered lives we lead, -- We choose the weights that drag us down, refusing to be freed. Yet souls that win immortal heights unclogged with self must move: The only thing that we can take from earth to heaven is love. To make us great like Thee, O God! Thy Spirit with us strives: -- Enlarge our hearts to take Thee in! O give us nobler lives! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A WIFE IN LONDON by THOMAS HARDY THE DAISY; WRITTEN AT EDINBURGH by ALFRED TENNYSON AN ARMOURY by ALCAEUS OF MYTILENE PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 12. THE CREATOR by EDWIN ARNOLD I COME SINGING by JOSEPH AUSLANDER CHARLES EDWARD AT VERSAILLES ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF CULLODEN by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN |