A DIALOGUE.
"O happy happy land! Angels like rushes stand About the wells of light."-- "Alas, I have not eyes for this fair sight: Hold fast my hand."--
"As in a soft wind, they Bend all one blessed way, Each bowed in his own glory, star with star."-- "I cannot see so far, Here shadows are."--
"White-winged the cherubim, Yet whiter seraphim, Glow white with intense fire of love."-- "Mine eyes are dim: I look in vain above, And miss their hymn."--
"Angels, Archangels cry One to other ceaselessly (I hear them sing) One 'Holy, Holy, Holy,' to their King."-- "I do not hear them, I."--
"Joy to thee, Paradise,-- Garden and goal and nest! Made green for wearied eyes; Much softer than the breast Of mother-dove clad in a rainbow's dyes.
"All precious souls are there Most safe, elect by grace, All tears are wiped forever from their face: Untired in prayer They wait and praise, Hidden for a little space.
"Boughs of the Living Vine, They spread in summer shine Green leaf with leaf: Sap of the Royal Vine, it stirs like wine In all both less and chief.
"Sing to the Lord, All spirits of all flesh, sing; For He hath not abhorred Our low estate nor scorned our offering: Shout to our King."--
"But Zion said: My Lord forgetteth me. Lo, she hath made her bed In dust; forsaken weepeth she Where alien rivers swell the sea.
"She laid her body as the ground, Her tender body as the ground to those Who passed; her harpstrings cannot sound In a strange land; discrowned She sits, and drunk with woes."--
"O drunken not with wine, Whose sins and sorrows have fulfilled the sum,-- Be not afraid, arise, be no more dumb; Arise, shine, For thy light is come."--
"Can these bones live?"-- "God knows: The prophet saw such clothed with flesh and skin A wind blew on them and life entered in; They shook and rose. Hasten the time, O Lord, blot out their sin, Let life begin."