Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
VII. Death: Immortality: HeavenHeaven
Nancy Amelia Woodbury Priest Wakefield (18361870)B
Beyond death’s cloudy portal,
There is a land where beauty never dies,
Where love becomes immortal;
Whose fields are ever vernal;
Where nothing beautiful can ever fade,
But blooms for aye eternal.
How bright and fair its flowers;
We may not hear the songs that echo there,
Through those enchanted bowers.
With our dim earthly vision,
For Death, the silent warder, keeps the key
That opes the gates elysian.
A fiery sunset lingers,
Its golden gates swing inward noiselessly,
Unlocked by unseen fingers.
Gleams from the inner glory
Stream brightly through the azure vault afar,
And half reveal the story.
Father, all-wise, eternal!
O, guide these wandering, wayworn feet of mine
Into those pastures vernal!