Poem by Maria Jane Jewsbury

The Bitterness of Death Past

Yea, he hath finished!
For him there is no longer any future
His life is bright.
No ominous hour
Knocks at his door with tidings of mishap,
Far off is he above desire and fear.
Coleridge's Wallenstein.

No faithful friends, all fondly as ye grieve me,
Seek not my longer sojourn midst your band;
For I oh! not from coldness joy to leave ye,
And view ye henceforth from the spirit's land.
Yet shall I live; for love will memory lighten
Of sullying speck, earth-stain, and dimming cloud,
And all of mine that could not bless or brighten,
Be buried with me in the hiding shroud.
O nobler joy! from God no longer starting
As the false bow its archer will deceive,
That temple entered whence is no departing,
Him shall I see, and love, no more to leave.
In the world's wilderness no more a stranger,
Seeking a home where home was never found,
And plucking poisonous fruits despite of danger,
And building bowers upon the False One's ground.
No more, to seek Siloah's chrystal fountain
And pastures green, reluctantly and slow;
No longer prone to stray from Zion's mountain,
Of rest above the only type below.
These are not dreams of earthly bliss that gladden
No vain Elysium would I enter in;
Sorrow itself would scarce have power to sadden
The heaven that proved a resting-place from sin,
Then, faithful friends, all fondly as ye grieve me,
Seek not my longer sojourn midst your band,
For I oh! not from coldness joy to leave ye,
And view ye henceforth from the spirit's land.

1. Dreams of Heaven
2. The Oceanides. No. 5. Address to the Deep
3. The Oceanides. No. 6. The Voyager's Regret
4. Now Mine Eyes Seeth Thee
5. Earth and Heaven

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