The Unconquered Air, and Other Poems (1912)/Immortal

For works with similar titles, see Immortal.

For other versions of this work, see Immortal (Coates, "How living are the dead").

Not to be confused with Immortal (Coates, "Life is like a beauteous flower").

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The Unconquered Air, and Other Poems  (1912) by Florence Earle Coates Immortal

O Giorno Felice !→

IMMORTAL

How living are the dead! Enshrined, but not apart, How safe within the heart We hold them still—our dead, Whatever else be fled! Our constancy is deep Toward those who lie asleep, Forgetful of the strain and mortal strife That are so large a part of this our earthly life. They are our very own: From them—from them alone, Nothing can us estrange— Nor blight autumnal, no; nor wintry change! The midnight moments keep A place for them; and though we wake to weep, They are beside us: still, in joy, in pain— In every crucial hour, they come again, Angelic from above— Bearing the gifts of blessing and of love— Until the shadowy path they lonely trod Becomes for us a bridge that upward leads to God.