Poems (Jenkins)/Sursum Corda
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For works with similar titles, see Sursum Corda.
Sursum Corda
OH, faint and feeble hearted, comfort ye!
Nor shame those dead whose death was great indeed,
Greater than life in death. It doth not need,
Since we seek strength where healing may not be,
Faith in fair fables of eternal rest,
Nor seer's eyes to look beyond the grave.
That they endured and dared for us shall save
Our souls alive:—they met, our tenderest,
Pain without plaint and death without dismay,
Bore and beheld sorrows unspeakable,
Yet shrank not from that double-edged distress,
But, eyes set steadfastly where ends the way,
They through all perils laughed and laboured well,
Nor ceased from mercy on the merciless.
Nor shame those dead whose death was great indeed,
Greater than life in death. It doth not need,
Since we seek strength where healing may not be,
Faith in fair fables of eternal rest,
Nor seer's eyes to look beyond the grave.
That they endured and dared for us shall save
Our souls alive:—they met, our tenderest,
Pain without plaint and death without dismay,
Bore and beheld sorrows unspeakable,
Yet shrank not from that double-edged distress,
But, eyes set steadfastly where ends the way,
They through all perils laughed and laboured well,
Nor ceased from mercy on the merciless.