Death & Dying

To the Ghost-seeress of Prevorst, as She Lay on Her Death-bed

by Justinus Kerner 1786–1862

Translated by James Clarence Mangan (1845) · From Poems, ed. John Mitchel (New York, 1859)

Death & Dying

YET lingerest thou! — but I have ceased repining;
Through thy long nights I see GOD'S brightness shining;
For, though our Scene world vanish from thy sight,
Within thee radiates more than starry light!

To thee have been revealed — bared for thy seeing —
The INNER LIFE, — the Mystery of Being —
Heaven, Hades, Hell, — the eternal How and Where — •
The glory of the Dead — and their despair!

Tears darkened long thy bodily vision nightly,
Yet then, even then, the Interior Eye saw brightly,
Saw, too, how Truth itself spake by His voice
Who bade men weep, that so they might rejoice!

Well hast thou borne thy Cross, like HIM, thy Master,
Though griefs, like snares, waylayed thee fast and faster
While that hard-minded world which knew thee not
Found only food for mockery in thy lot!

And now, rejoice, thou Faithfullest and Meekest!
It lies in sight, the Quiet Home thou seekest;
And gently wilt thou pass to it, for thou
Art all but disembodied even now!

MLA

Kerner, Justinus. “To the Ghost-seeress of Prevorst, as She Lay on Her Death-bed.” Translated by James Clarence Mangan. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/kerner/7/.

Chicago

Kerner, Justinus. “To the Ghost-seeress of Prevorst, as She Lay on Her Death-bed.” Translated by James Clarence Mangan. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/kerner/7/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Justinus Kerner