Not of the earth that music! all things fade;
Vanish the pictured walls! and, one by one,
The starry candles silently expire!
And now, O Jesus! round that silent cross
A moment’s pause, a hush as of the grave.
Now rises slow a silver mist of sound,
And all the heavens break out in drops of grief;
A rain of sobbing sweetness, swelling, dying,
Voice into voice inweaving with sweet throbs,
And fluttering pulses of impassioned moan, —
Veiled voices, in whose wailing there is awe,
And mysteries of love and agony,
A yearning anguish of celestial souls,
A shiver as of wings trembling the air,
As if God’s shining doves, his spotless birds,
Wailed with a nightingale’s heart-break of grief,
In this their starless night, when for our sins
Their sun, their life, their love, hangs darkly there,
Like a slain lamb, bleeding his life away!
(Harriet Beecher Stowe)
More Poetry from Harriet Beecher Stowe:
Harriet Beecher Stowe Poems based on Topics: Love, Sadness, Life, Soul, Death & Dying, Night, Grief, Jesus Christ, Birds, Silver, Music- "Mary At The Cross" (Harriet Beecher Stowe Poems)
- "The Old Psalm Tune" (Harriet Beecher Stowe Poems)
- "Knocking" (Harriet Beecher Stowe Poems)
- "Lines. . ." (Harriet Beecher Stowe Poems)
- Consolation (Harriet Beecher Stowe Poems)
- "Only A Year" (Harriet Beecher Stowe Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Love Poems, Life Poems, Night Poems, Sadness Poems, Death & Dying Poems, Soul Poems, Birds Poems, Jesus Christ Poems, Grief Poems, Music Poems, Silver PoemsBased on Keywords: heart-break, inweaving
- The Vision Of Piers Plowman - Part 14 (William Langland Poems)
- Trivia ; or, the Art of Walking the Streets of London : Book III (John Gay Poems)
- Hermann And Dorothea - IX. Urania (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Poems)
- Christ's Triumph after Death : Canto IV. Christ's Victory and Triumph (Giles Fletcher Jr Poems)
- Childhood (Henry Kirke White Poems)