He is gone—a cloud of light
Has re­ceived Him from our sight;
High in Heav’n, where eye of men
Follows not, nor an­gels’ ken;
Through the veils of time and space,
Passed into the ho­li­est place;
All the toil, the sor­row done,
All the bat­tle fought and won.

He is gone—and we re­main
In this world of sin and pain:
In the void which He has left
On this earth, of Him be­reft.
We have still His work to do,
We can still His path pur­sue;
Seek Him both in friend and foe,
In our­selves His im­age show.

He is gone—we heard Him say,
Good that I should go away,
Gone is that dear form and face,
But not gone His pre­sent grace;
Though Him­self no more we see,
Comfortless we can­not be:
No, His Spir­it still is ours,
Quickening, fresh­en­ing all our pow­ers.

He is gone—to­wards their goal
World and church must on­ward roll;
Far be­hind we leave the past;
Forward are our glanc­es cast:
Still His words before us range
Through the ag­es as they change:
Wheresoe’er the truth shall lead,
He will give what­e’er we need.

He is gone—but we once more
Shall be­hold Him as be­fore;
In the hea­ven of hea­vens the same,
As on earth He went and came;
In the ma­ny man­sions there,
Place for us He will pre­pare;
In that world un­seen, un­known,
He and we shall yet be one.

He is gone—but not in vain,
Wait un­til He comes again:
He is ris­en, He is not here,
Far above this earth­ly sphere;
Evermore in heart and mind
There our peace in Him we find:
To our own eter­nal friend,
Thitherward let us as­cend.