Friday, November 2, 2018

Spirits Of The Dead: An All Souls Day Memorandum




Thy soul shall find itself alone
'Mid dark thoughts of the gray tombstone-
Not one, of all the crowd, to pry
Into thine hour of secrecy.

Be silent in that solitude,
Which is not loneliness-for then
The spirits of the dead who stood
In life before thee are again
In death around thee-and their will
Shall overshadow thee: be still.



Western Cemetery near Baltimore, Maryland



The night, tho' clear, shall frown-
And the stars shall look not down
From their high thrones in the heaven,
With light like Hope to mortals given-
But their red orbs, without beam,
To thy weariness shall seem
As a burning and a fever
Which would cling to thee forever.

Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish,
Now are visions ne'er to vanish;
From thy spirit shall they pass
No more-like dew-drop from the grass.

The breeze-the breath of God-is still-
And the mist upon the hill,
Shadowy-shadowy-yet unbroken,
Is a symbol and a token-
How it hangs upon the trees,
A mystery of mysteries.



CHRIST CAME TO PIERCE THE VEIL OF DARKNESS
AND THE MYSTERY OF DEATH.

"For You will not abandon me to Sheol,
the place of the dead, neither will You suffer
Your Holy One to see corruption."
Psalm 16:10



"Spirits of the Dead"
(1827)
Edgar Allan Poe
(1809-1849)
American writer and poet



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