"I am the Resurrection and the Life !"

We stood beside an opening grave,
By fair Morwenna's walls of grey :
Our hearts were hush'd — the God who gave
Had called a sister- soul away.
Hark ! what wild tones around us float :
The chaunting cuckoo's double note !

We uttered there the solemn sound —
" Man that is born from flesh of Eve,
The banished flower of Eden's ground,
Hath but a little time to live ; " —
And still, amid each pausing word,
The strange cry of that secret bird.

" Ashes to ashes — dust to dust" —
The last farewell we sadly said.
Our mighty hope— our certain trust —
The resurrection of the dead.
Again, all air, it glides around,
A voice !— the spirit of a sound.

A doctrine dwells in that deep tone ;
A truth is borne on yonder wing ;
Long years ! long years ! the note is known —
The blessed messenger of spring !
Thus saith that pilgrim of the skies :
" Lo ! all which dieth shall arise ! "

Rejoice ! though dull with wintry gloom
Love's sepulchre and sorrow's night,
The sun shall visit depth and tomb
A season of eternal light !
Like the glad bosom of the rose,
The mound shall burst— the grave unclose !

Yea ! soothed by that unvarying song
What generations here have trod !
What winds have breathed that sound along,
Fit signal of the changeless God !
Hark ! yet again the echoes float,
The chaunting cuckoo's double note !