Zoe

When vision fails the touch grows keen;
     The blind have eyes in every nerve;
     To souls whom strong affections serve
The felt is nearer than the seen.

Lightly with nod or smile we hail
     The loved whom day by day we meet;
     But more intense the thoughts that greet
The Dear One passed beyond the veil!

Sweet Life! because we see thee not
     More closely to thy love we cling;
     The slight memorials that we bring
Are thence with deeper feeling fraught!

The light & love that with thee came,
     Still purer in this day’s return,
     Within my deepest bosoms burn,
Giving witness of thy name.

Zoe! There is no cloud of death
     In that glad word we call thee by!
     Our hope, our faith, our prophesy,
The soul that breathes beyond our breath!

While here, above thy dust we lay
     Memorial tributes to thy birth
     They are, in sooth, but earth to earth,
The love they hear lives on for aye!