How shall I know thee in the sphere which keeps <br />The disembodied spirits of the dead, <br />When all of thee that time could wither sleeps <br />And perishes among the dust we tread? <br /> <br />For I shall feel the sting of ceaseless pain <br />If there I meet thy gentle presence not; <br />Nor hear the voice I love, nor read again <br />In thy serenest eyes the tender thought. <br /> <br />Will not thy own meek heart demand me there? <br />That heart whose fondest throbs to me were given? <br />My name on earth was ever in thy prayer, <br />Shall it be banished from thy tongue in heaven? <br /> <br />In meadows fanned by heaven's life-breathing wind, <br />In the resplendence of that glorious sphere, <br />And larger movements of the unfettered mind, <br />Wilt thou forget the love that joined us here? <br /> <br />The love that lived through all the stormy past, <br />And meekly with my harsher nature bore, <br />And deeper grew, and tenderer to the last, <br />Shall it expire with life, and be no more? <br /> <br />A happier lot than mine, and larger light, <br />Await thee there; for thou hast bowed thy will <br />In cheerful homage to the rule of right, <br />And lovest all, and renderest good for ill. <br /> <br />For me, the sordid cares in which I dwell, <br />Shrink and consume my heart, as heat the scroll; <br />And wrath has left its scar--that fire of hell <br />Has left its frightful scar upon my soul. <br /> <br />Yet though thou wear'st the glory of the sky, <br />Wilt thou not keep the same beloved name, <br />The same fair thoughtful brow, and gentle eye, <br />Lovelier in heaven's sweet climate, yet the same? <br /> <br />Shalt thou not teach me, in that calmer home, <br />The wisdom that I learned so ill in this-- <br />The wisdom which is love--till I become <br />Thy fit companion in that land of bliss?<br /><br />William Cullen Bryant<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-future-life/
