Jessie B. Rittenhouse, ed. (1869–1948). The Second Book of Modern Verse. 1922.

Exile from God

I DO not fear to lay my body down

In death, to share

The life of the dark earth and lose my own,

If God is there.

I have so loved all sense of Him, sweet might

Of color and sound,—

His tangible loveliness and living light

That robes me ’round.

If to His heart in the hushed grave and dim

We sink more near,

It shall be well—living we rest in Him.

Only I fear

Lest from my God in lonely death I lapse,

And the dumb clod

Lose him; for God is life, and death perhaps

Exile from God.