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Show THE FUTURE lMFE. William Cullen Bryant. How ehall I know thee in the sphere which keeps The disembodied spirits of the dead. When all of thee that time could ther, sleeps And perishes among the dust we tread t For I shall feel the sting of ceaseless pain, If there I meet thy gentle presence not; Nor hear the volco I love, nor read again In thy scrcnest eyes the tender thought Will not thy own meek heart demand ine there r That heart whoso fondest throbs to me were given? My name on earth, was ever In thy prayer-Shall prayer-Shall it Dn banished froin thy tongue in Heaven In meadows fanned by Heaven's life breathing In the resplendence of that glorious sphere, And larger movements of the unfettered mind Wilt thou forget the love that Joined us here? The love that lived through all t he stormy past, Aud meekly with my harsher nature bore, And deeper grew, and tenderer to the last, Shall It expire with life, and be no more? A happier lot than mine, and larger light. Await thee there; for thou hast bowed thy .will In cheeiTul homage to the rulo of right, And lovest all, and rendered good for ML For me, the sordid cares in which I dwell Shrink and contume the heart, as heat the scroll And wrath hath left Its scar-that fire of hell Hath left its frightful scar upon my soul. Yet, though thou wear'st the glory of the sky, Wilt thou not keep the sume beloved name, The same fair, thoughtful brow and gentle eye, Lovelier in Heaven's sweet climate, yet the same? Shalt thou not teach me, in that calmer home, The wisdom that I learned so 111 in this The wisdom which is love till I become Thy tit companion in that land of bliss? ' |