Dust from the dust and soon to dust returned,
But living bodies, clothing living souls,
Bodies responsive to the spirit’s will,
Clothing in acts the spirit’s inmost thoughts—
Dwell here in many mansions, large and fair,
Stretching beyond the keenest vision’s hen,
With room for each and more than room for all,
Forever filling and yet never full.
Not clogged by matter, fast as fleetest birds,
Wishing to go, they go; to come, they come.
No helpless infancy or palsied age,
But all in early manhood’s youthful bloom,
The old grown young, the child to man’s estate.
Gentle they seemed as they passed to and fro,
Gentle and strong, with every manly grace;
Busy as bees in summer’s sunny hours,
In works of usefulness and acts of love;
No pinching poverty or grasping greed,
Gladly receiving, they more gladly give,
Sharing in peace the bounties free to all.
As lost in wonder and delight he gazed,
He saw approaching from a pleasant grove
Two noble youths, yet full of gentleness,
Attending one from sole to crown a queen,
With every charm of fresh and blooming
youth
And every grace of early womanhood,
Her face the mirror of her gentle soul,
Her flowing robes finer than softest silk,
That as she moved seemed woven of the
light;
Not borne by clumsy wings, or labored
steps,
She glided on as if her will had wings
That bore her willing body where she wished.
As she approached, close by her side he
saw,
As through a veil or thin transparent
mist,
The form and features of the aged king,
Older and frailer by six troubled years
Than when they parted, yet his very face,
Whom she was watching with the tenderest
care.
And nearer seen each seeming youth was
two,
As when at first in Eden’s happy
shade
Our primal parents ere the tempter came
Were twain, and yet but one, so on they
come,
Hand joined in hand, heart beating close
to heart,
One will their guide and sharing every
thought,
Beaming with tender, all-embracing love,
Whom God had joined and death had failed
to part.
What need of words to introduce his guests?
Love knows her own, the mother greets
her son.
Her parents and the king’s, who
long had watched
Their common offspring with a constant
care,
Inspiring hope and breathing inward peace
When secret foes assailed on every side,
Now saw him burst the clouds that veiled
their view
And stand triumphant full before their
eyes.
O happy meeting! joy profound, complete!
Soul greeting soul, heart speaking straight
to heart,
While countless happy faces hovered near
And song’s of joy sound through
Nirvana’s heights.