AFTER LIFE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6362, 17 December 1898, Page 7

AFTER LIFE.

Weave the- wreath of moly ; — Is it the victor, Death, ' . . Gives us this crown most holy, ; Taking our latest breath ? .• .-'. • Shall we forget this life we leave ?■--... • •• - • Have we forgotten an earlier left?— - Is it cause to joy, or cause to grieve^ ' ' That we of remembrance are quite "bereft? - Bow the head most lowly; — - ; r ' We of the Earth are born, Bless' d with a spirit holy, Giv'n of Life's rose and" thorn; Do we return from ages past, , Or is our spirit but now create 7 Is the world we tread the one that last Was the scene of a former life's estate? Look with awe and wonder;" " ' ' What are we all but dust? ■' . Earth, we are sure, is under, Heaven is above, wo trust; — Or is our tru3t an errant thing, without what is most within?- -. Is it true that death our soul shall tring ' ' To the Earth, that it's new life may begin? Breadths unknown asunder, Life from its life is set- ' ' All that of Heaven was under, Under, the Heaven is yet; . All that has lived in the ages gone, Lives, and shall live till ail time is past ; At the first create till the end : lives . on, And first shall be always the same as last. Same, but upward lifting ; ■■.-'■ So shall the ba,se be dead, All that is noble, drifting To the supreme God-head; *. :' So shall each good deed lift U3 .more; ■'-■ • Nearer tho goal we at leti^Ui '%balK ?«axW", ■ And the fight we win shall strength outpour, And the truth we see shall a greater teach. ■ ••-■■ Good from evil sifting, •' •' Glorious spirit-flight, ■_•■ Souls of ths Years up-drifting, Passing- from doubt's dark night;— Shall we forget each friend, eaih tie, ' Binding us closely, and. sweet past thought? We must die to live since wo. live to die, '■-': Shall death's be the hand to make past life naught? What is all our feeling? Is it the, force that moulds That. which our Life, revealing, As the Soul's end, .unfolds ? That which is perfect, pure and clean, ■•■• - That which must broaden in power of grace, Till the veil of doubt car? j:c u: ore screen It's eyes from its Maker's, it:; great God's face? ■•'• What seems most concealing To our unknowing mind, ■ May be the most revealing To tht? proai Life. Manlrind; Deep is it hid, the. truth we seek,- ■ Yet we are nhle- to find it out;— \'. ' . ' ; But. the -Jenfcihs anci breadths, adverse ' and bVal:, . ••','■■'■ " We must traverse and trace' ere freed 'from doubt. ■ ■ '" -. ' : JOHANNES C. AXDERSEN.