Resurrection

ScORNER of Flesh, thou who wouldst plunge in gloom
This radiant thing God made,
What shall abide if this should cease to bloom,
This Flesh Divine should fade?

The Soul? A Flower of which this Flesh is seed?
Nay, Flesh and Soul are one!
Thou who wouldst part this one in twain, take heed,
Lest all should be undone!

This eye of Flesh, to see and apprehend,
Is thy Soul's eye! This clay,
That adumbrates thy Soul, shall find no end
Till that, too, fades away!

Lo, lying with a lily in her hand,
Thy dear one slumbereth, —
Yet on a day she shall arise and stand
Smiling on vanquish'd Death.

All Flesh, all Form, all that was pure and fair
Here on Life's crowded road,
She shall arise,— nay, not one little hair
Shall pass away, saith God!

All that was beautiful, all thine eyes and sense
Saw beautiful and whole,
The Form, the Flesh, no part shall vanish hence,
Since these things are the Soul!

Nought that is beautiful can die, — no form
That once grew fair can fade, —
This flesh shall still be radiant, sweet, and warm,
Form of the soul God made!

From the unconscious to the conscious life
Man hath emerged, to know
Self-knowledge, Sight, victorious o'er the strife
Of Nature's ebb and flow.

The day God can divide this life in twain
Its length of day is done,
But both, be sure, will rise and live again,
If Flesh and Soul are one!