God and the Soul
Two hundred seven poems in four books by John Lancaster Spalding, (1840-1916), of Lebanon, Kentucky. Printed in 1901.
His poem, “Irreparable Loss”, makes one stop for a moment. The first book at cimmay.us has a section on how a soul earns immortality; fusion with the spirit. The gift eternal is discovered when the person is given a name replacing a number, all without fanfare.
Irreparable Loss
GRIEVE not that flowers quickly fade and die,
That leaves must fall at end of summer day,
That hours of joy must quickly fly away,
Since hastening time most swiftly hurries by,
When loving hearts in fragrant bowers are nigh:
Grieve not for this, but for the vanished May
Of thy young soul, so soon gone far astray
From the pure love and hope and promise high
Of noble life, which filled thy breast with flame,
And kindled thoughts and purposes divine.
Alas! forever flown is the high aim
To make thy heart of purest light the shrine,
Where bending angels might pronounce thy name,
And God Himself eternally be thine.
That leaves must fall at end of summer day,
That hours of joy must quickly fly away,
Since hastening time most swiftly hurries by,
When loving hearts in fragrant bowers are nigh:
Grieve not for this, but for the vanished May
Of thy young soul, so soon gone far astray
From the pure love and hope and promise high
Of noble life, which filled thy breast with flame,
And kindled thoughts and purposes divine.
Alas! forever flown is the high aim
To make thy heart of purest light the shrine,
Where bending angels might pronounce thy name,
And God Himself eternally be thine.