" Dead! " Avaunt the thought! Thou art not dead!
It is not death when the frail form gives way —
So that the struggling spirit might have sway
In its own freedom!
The fleshy barriers that entombed thy spirit
Are for ever shattered! — and now, fit
For the celestial bodies, thou art made
A son of Light and Liberty.
Let us rejoice!
On the Eternal Shores, with all the good and great
Of all the ages, thou art now encompassed!
Life's broadest gate
Hath opened on thy vision, and, long ere this,
Thy spirit hath begun the immortal bliss
Of that vast company, who, in light serene,
Develop their great forces. Heaven's brightest sheen
O'ermantles them; empannelled and empalled
By the Great Spirit who them hath called
Into that higher state, thou
Art now the scholar, where discipline and rule
Are unheard-of things: for in that wondrous school
They need no more correction.
While here on earth they felt the rod; but death
Proved their gradation-day, and now, on fuller breadth,
Unhindered by the achings of dull clay,
With them thou flashest in the immortal day
Of Heaven's eternal Light. No night,
No pain, no earth-born gloom
Shall evermore fall on thee; but in the radiant noon
Of that empyreal sphere thou dwellest in peace.

Awhile farewell! We leave thee in thy glory,
And pray that we again shall meet
Within the vale. Ah! when again we meet
Each other, we shall part no more.