The Poetical Works of Jonathan E. Hoag/Death
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Death
(Suggested by a Sermon of Dr. George Burman Foster of Chicago University)
Think not that Death malignly waits,
A weapon of the hostile Fates,
To strike the sinner down;
'Tis but a link in Nature's plan,
To join succeeding growths of man,
And life complete to crown.
A weapon of the hostile Fates,
To strike the sinner down;
'Tis but a link in Nature's plan,
To join succeeding growths of man,
And life complete to crown.
All finite things unfailing tend
From a beginning to an end;
For what is Time but Change?
What goal or growth could life possess,
If stretched out into emptiness,
With bleak unbounded range?
From a beginning to an end;
For what is Time but Change?
What goal or growth could life possess,
If stretched out into emptiness,
With bleak unbounded range?
What bard with grace could ever sing
The cloying charm of endless spring,
Or praise eternal day?
Since Man is tuned to Time alone,
The wise in Death a friend must own,
And bow to Nature's way!
The cloying charm of endless spring,
Or praise eternal day?
Since Man is tuned to Time alone,
The wise in Death a friend must own,
And bow to Nature's way!
1918