Classic Poem

Alas! how fearful, silent, vast,
The dim and shadowy realm
Where undisputed reigns the Past,
And voiceless waves o'erwhelm,
In dark Oblivion's darker tide,
All that we are, with all our pride,
Lost in the dread Hereafter!

And will there be no whisper heard,
No voices kind and sweet,
No tender heart-string touched or stirred,
No love that is complete,
To soothe the grief that cannot speak;
No faithful friend, tear-eyed and meek,—
None in the dread Hereafter?

And will there be no more of earth,
No more of sky and stars,
No hills or vales, nor vernal birth
Of flowers, nor radiant bars
Of light to break upon the stream
That bears us onward like a dream,—
On,—in the dread Hereafter?

Believe, there is no death for him
Who lives on earth aright:
He sees no shadows dark or grim;
For him there is no night,
No last dull sleep, no fearful knell,
Nor terror, when he goes to dwell,
Blest, in the dread Hereafter.