Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, IN MEMORIAM; TO REV. DR. B. FELSENTHAL, by MIRIAM DEL BANCO


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IN MEMORIAM; TO REV. DR. B. FELSENTHAL, by                    
First Line: Far up the path that leads back nevermore
Last Line: Have writ his name with the undying dead.
Subject(s): Death; Immortality; Memory; Dead, The


Far up the path that leads back nevermore,
Far, far above, where vapors seldom roll
Between God's beauteous sunshine and the soul,
We saw him stand, then pass forevermore;
The fires he kindled on the hills sublime,—
The glow of thought that trailed the world with light,—
Transfigured him e'en as he passed from sight
And sends its signal down the vales of time.

White-souled, pure-handed, large of heart and mind,
He left a void that widened as it sped;
We learn much sometimes from the silent dead.
And now, when borne upon the southern wind,
With blue-bird trill and scent of violet,
Come thoughts of life—its essence and its breath,
And that great progress which begins with death,
Our heartstrings tremble with a vague regret.

A vague regret. Yet stars may cease to shine,
May pass to heavens far beyond our ken,
The while their light still travels down to men
Through ages stretching into endless time.
And he? The vaster issues that he led,
The pulses wakened to the good, the right,
The torch he lit in toleration's night,
Have writ his name with the undying dead.





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