The Other World

 

    It lies around us like a cloud,--
    The world we do not see;
    Yet the sweet closing of an eye
    May bring us there to be.

    Its gentle breezes fan our cheeks
    Amid our worldly cares;
    Its gentle voices whisper love,
    And mingle with our prayers.

    Sweet hearts around us throb and beat,
    Sweet helping hands are stirred,
    And palpitates the veil between
    With breathings almost heard.

    The silence--awful, sweet, and calm,--
    They have no power to break;
    For mortal words are not for them
    To utter or partake.

    So thin, so soft, so sweet they glide,
    So near to press they seem,
    They lull us gently to our rest,
    And melt into our dream.

    And, in the hush of rest they bring,
    'Tis easy now to see
    How lovely and how sweet a pass
    The hour of death may be!

    To close the eye and close the ear,
    Wrapped in a trance of bliss,
    And, gently drawn in loving arms,
    To swoon to that--from this.

    Scarce knowing if we wake or sleep,
    Scarce asking where we are,
    To feel all evil sink away,
    All sorrow and all care.

    Sweet souls around us! Watch us still,
    Press nearer to our side,
    Into our thoughts, into our prayers,
    With gentle helping glide.

    Let death between us be as naught,
    A dried and vanished stream;
    Your joy be the reality,
    Our suffering life the dream.

 

"The Other World"
Harriet Beecher Stowe