Oh! that is a beautiful land, I wis, <br />The land of the Gone-away Souls. <br />Yes, a lovelier region by far than this <br />(Though this is a world most fair). <br />The goodliest goal of all good goals, <br />Else why do our friends stay there? <br /> <br /> <br />I walk in a world that is sweet with friends, <br />And earth I have ever held dear; <br />Yes, love with duty and beauty blends <br />To render the earth-place bright. <br />But faster and faster, year on year, <br />My comrades hurry from sight. <br /> <br /> <br />They hurry away to the Over-There, <br />And few of them say farewell; <br />Yes, they go away with a secret air <br />As if on a secret quest. <br />And they come not back to earth to tell <br />Why that land seems the best. <br /> <br /> <br />Messages come from the mystic sphere, <br />But few know the code of that land, <br />Yes, many the message but few who hear, <br />In the din of the world below, <br />Or hearing the message, can understand <br />Those truths which we long to know. <br /> <br /> <br />But it must be the goal of all good goals, <br />And I think of it more and more. <br />Yes, think of that land of the Gone-Away Souls <br />And its growing hosts of friends <br />Who will hail my bark when it touches shore <br />Where the last brief journey ends.<br /><br />Ella Wheeler Wilcox<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-land-of-the-gone-away-souls/
