'Oh 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, theyBend 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 cryOne to other ceaselessly (I hear them sing) One "Holy, Holy, Holy" to their King.'--'I do not hear them, I.'--
'At one side Paradise Is curtained from the rest,Made green for wearied eyes; Much softer than the breastOf mother-dove clad in a rainbow's dyes.
'All precious souls are there Most safe, elect by grace, All tears are wiped for ever from their face:Untired in prayer They wait and praise Hidden for a little space.
'Boughs of the Living VineThey 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 scorn'd 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 thoseWho passed; her harpstrings cannot soundIn 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.'