The Shore of Eternity

Alone! to land alone upon that shore!
With no one sight that we have seen before,-
Things of a different hue,
And the sounds all new,
And fragrances so sweet the soul may faint.
Alone! Oh that first hour of being a saint!

Alone! to land alone upon that shore!
On which no wavelets lisp, no billows roar,
Perhaps no shape of ground,
Perhaps no sight or sound,
No forms of earth our fancies to arrange,
But to begin alone that mighty change!

Alone! to land alone upon that shore!
Knowing so well we can return no more:
No voice or face of friend,
None with us to attend
Our disembarking on that awful strand,
But to arrive alone in such a land!

Alone! to land alone upon that shore:
To begin alone to live for evermore,
To have no one to teach
The manners or the speech
Of that new life, or put us at our ease:
Oh that we might die in pairs or companies!

Alone? No! God hath been there long before,
Eternally hath waited on that shore
For us who were to come
To our eternal home;
And He hath taught His angels to prepare
In what way we are to be welcomed there.

Like one that waits and watches He hath sate,
As if there were none else for whom to wait,
Waiting for us, for us
Who keep Him waiting thus,
And who bring less to satisfy His love
Than any other of the souls above.

Alone? The God we know is on that shore,
The God of whose attractions we know more
Than of those who may appear
Nearest and dearest here:
Oh is He not the life-long friend we know
More privately than any friend below?

Alone? The God we trust is on that shore,
The faithful one whom we have trusted more
In trials and in woes
Than we have trusted those
On whom we leaned most in our earthly strife, -
Oh we shall trust Him more in that new life!

Alone? The God we love is on that shore,
Love not enough, yet whom we love far more,
And whom we ve loved all through,
And with a love more true
Than other loves, yet now shall love Him more:
True love of Him begins upon that shore!

So not alone we land upon that shore:
Twill be as though we had been there before;
Than we can meet below,
And find our rest like some returning dove,
And be at home at once with our Eternal Love!