Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the
spirit shall return to God who gave it.
Thou ancient man, with face and brow deep lined,
Furrowed with heavy sorrow, care, or sin.
Yet with keen eyes uplifted clear and bright,
Surely thy thoughts are not of Earth, but Heaven.
I pray thee think aloud – and thus he spake.
Standing upon the margin of the grave
“Beyond the time allotted man on Earth.
The Spirit in my flesh is searching deep
Beneath all outward fleeting forms of things
To find the truth and essence of their being.
What is their real existence? What is mine?
One certain truth is clear : the actual life
Is not the seen but the invisible.
All human faculty of vision needs
Correction of the record first received.
First sight is but appearance – Often false
With deeper sight and fuller knowledge – some –
(Alas how few) may reach reality. “
What shall we say then? Did the Power which gave
Our eyes and reason – give them but to mock us?
Nay verily ! The simplest Soul on earth
May come to truth, and God. if but the search
Be earnest and sincere. The thickest veil
Twixt us and Truth is self sufficiency ;
With lack of faith in Goodness and in God
The only and the great realities.
Though Clouds and darkness
Are round about Him – Righteousness and Judgment,
Are still the habitation of His scat.
How stands it then, before that Seat, with thee
Thou earth-stained soul? Will Righteousness and
Judgment
Reward or punish? In the eyes of men
The record of thy life is fair. More free
From stain – more noted for good deeds
Than that of man- who have won the praise
And love of man. But Righteousness and Judgment,”
Looking upon it with the eye of God,
May set a higher standard.
High above
The Seat Righteousness and Judgment, stands
The Throne of Mercy. On it sits the Christ !
With awful reverence and fear I knelt
Before the Judgment seat, with head bowed low
In guilty shame until a higher voice
Called me to look upon the face of Him –
The perfect Son of God and Son of Man :
And, in the faith of Him, my brother, seek
And find atonement. So I die, assured
That He and I in God are one for ever.
(Edwin Exon)
More Poetry from Edwin Exon:
Edwin Exon Poems based on Topics: God, Heaven, Man, Life, Mind, Time, Soul, Perfection, Sadness, Belief & Faith, Power- Love Reigneth Over All (Edwin Exon Poems)
- The Angel's Prayer. (Edwin Exon Poems)
- The Men That Are To Be (Edwin Exon Poems)
- Triumph. (Edwin Exon Poems)
- Immortality. (Edwin Exon Poems)
- Myths (Edwin Exon Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Man Poems, God Poems, Life Poems, Mind Poems, Sadness Poems, Time Poems, Soul Poems, Faces Poems, Heaven Poems, Fairness Poems, Sense & Perception PoemsBased on Keywords: scat, sufficiency, earth-stained