Within the Veil

          I said once: "Dark and cold — 
Ah! cold and dark the grave to which we tend, 
Where lover parts from lover, friend from friend,
          And life's brief tale is told 
With its pathetic ending — 'Dust to dust!'  
Now, with a new-born faith and loveful trust —

          I say: "The grave is blest! 
O, call it dark no more, since she is laid 
In its still depths, whose life a sunshine made
          In good deeds manifest, 
To cheer the gloom of sorrow and despair, 
And pour its bright beams round her everywhere.'

          She taught us how to live! 
Her blameless life, from mean ambitions free, 
That loved the right it dared to do and be,
     Lessons sublime did give 
Of a true nobleness — for all that shone 
Sunlike in saintly souls she made her own!

          She taught us how to die! 
With what a holy joy aside she flung 
The body's bondage, and exulting sprung
          To immortality! 
Who then should fear to tread, as she hath trod, 
The path through death, that leadeth unto God!

          O, grave! a sacred trust 
To thee is given! No common ashes sleep 
Within thy guardian arms! Sacredly keep
     This consecrated dust, 
Till, quickened with new life, it shall arise, 
A glorious body, fitted for the skies !