Mimnermus in Church

By William (Johnson) Cory

1823-1892


YOU promise heavens free from strife,
         Pure truth, and perfect change of will;
But sweet, sweet is this human life,
         So sweet, I fain would breathe it still;
Your chilly stars I can forgo,
This warm kind world is all I know.

You say there is no substance here,
         One great reality above:
Back from that void I shrink in fear,
         And child-like hide myself in love:
Show me what angels feel. Till then
I cling, a mere weak man, to men.

You bid me lift my mean desires
         From faltering lips and fitful veins
To sexless souls, ideal quires,
         Unwearied voices, wordless strains:
My mind with fonder welcome owns
One dear dead friend's remember'd tones.

Forsooth the present we must give
         To that which cannot pass away;
All beauteous things for which we live
         By laws of time and space decay.
But O, the very reason why
I clasp them, is because they die.

DayPoems Poem No. 707
<a href="http://www.daypoems.net/poems/707.html">Mimnermus in Church by William (Johnson) Cory</a>

The DayPoems Poetry Collection, www.daypoems.net
Timothy Bovee, editor

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