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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AN INVOCATION, by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD Poet's Biography First Line: O death! O grave! O endless world beyond! Last Line: Nor darken one forgiving smile of heaven. Subject(s): Heaven; Paradise | |||
O DEATH! O grave! O endless world beyond! And Thou, the Holy One, that shuttest up What no man openeth, -- that openeth That which nor man --nor death-- nor the filled grave Can ever shut? To Thee, how reverend, How humble, and how pure should be our prayer. Forgive us, for what are we! What but worms That crawl, and bask, and shine -- then writhe and die But there is hope in Heaven. I hear a voice That says the dead are blessed, if they die In Him who died for them. That whoso lives Believing, shall not die eternally. -- So may we live, and so apply our hearts To God's true wisdom in our numbered days, That though we be cut down even as the flowers, And though we flee like passing shadows by, Hereafter we may bloom again, -- and stand Where all that blooms shall bloom eternally, And shadows, like the bitter thoughts of life, Can never flit across the holy path, Nor darken one forgiving smile of Heaven. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE END OF LIFE by PHILIP JAMES BAILEY SEVEN TWILIGHTS: 6 by CONRAD AIKEN THE BOOK OF THE DEAD MAN (#19): 2. MORE ABOUT THE DEAD MAN AND WINTER by MARVIN BELL THE WORLDS IN THIS WORLD by LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR A SKELETON FOR MR. PAUL IN PARADISE; AFTER ALLAN GUISINGER by NORMAN DUBIE BEAUTY & RESTRAINT by DANIEL HALPERN HOW IT WILL HAPPEN, WHEN by DORIANNE LAUX IF THIS IS PARADISE by DORIANNE LAUX TO A FRIEND by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD |
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