O the hour when this ma­te­ri­al
Shall have van­ished as a cloud;
When, amid the wide ethe­re­al,
All th’in­vi­si­ble shall crowd;
And the nak­ed soul, sur­rounded
With re­al­ities un­known,
Triumph in the view un­bound­ed,
Feel her­self with God alone.

In that sud­den, strange tran­si­tion,
By what new and fin­er sense
Shall she grasp the migh­ty vi­sion,
And re­ceive its in­flu­ence?
Angels! guard the new im­mor­tal
Through the won­der-teem­ing space,
To the ev­er­last­ing por­tal,
To the spir­it’s rest­ing place.

Will she then, with fond emo­tion,
Aught of hu­man love re­tain?
Or, ab­sorbed in pure de­vo­tion,
Will no earth­ly trace remain?
Can the grave those ties dis­se­ver,
With the ve­ry heart strings twined?
Must she part, and part for ev­er,
With the friend she leaves be­hind?

No: the past she still re­me­mbers.
Faith and hope, sur­viv­ing too,
Ever watch those sleep­ing em­bers,
Which must rise and live anew.
For the wi­dowed, lone­ly spir­it,
Waiting to be clothed afresh,
Longs per­fect­ion to in­her­it,
And to tri­umph in the flesh.

Angels! let the ran­somed stran­ger
In your ten­der care be blest,
Hoping, trust­ing, safe from dan­ger,
Till the trum­pet end her rest;
Till the trump which shakes cre­ation,
Through the circ­ling heav’ns shall roll,
Till the day of con­sum­ma­tion,
Till the brid­al of the soul,

Can I trust a fel­low be­ing?
Can I trust an an­gel’s care?
O Thou mer­ci­ful, all-see­ing!
Beam around my spir­it there.
Jesus, bless­èd Me­di­at­or!
Thou the ai­ry path hast trod:
Thou the Judge, the Con­sum­ma­tor!
Shepherd of the fold of God!

Blessèd fold! no foe can en­ter,
And no friend de­part­eth thence.
Jesus is their sun, their cen­ter;
And their shield, Om­ni­po­tence.
Blessèd! for the Lamb shall feed them,
All their tears shall wipe away,
To the liv­ing fount­ains lead them,
Till fru­ition’s per­fect day.

Lo! it comes, that day of won­der!
Louder chor­als shake the skies.
Hades’ gates are burst asun­der:
See! the new-clothed my­ri­ads rise.
Thought! re­press thy weak en­dea­vor:
Here must rea­son pros­trate fall.
Oh, th’ineffable For­ev­er!
And th’eter­nal All in All!