Heedless soul of mine, bethink thee Ere thine hours on earth are past,-- Ere thou fly to spirit-regions, If thou real treasure hast. Where will be thine endless dwelling? Where thine everlasting home? What thy portion, joy or mourning, In the world beyond the tomb? When these eyes shall lose their lustre,-- Fading with the failing breath, And roll, lightless, in the conflict, With inexorable Death; How wilt thou survive the anguish-- How sustain all earthly loss, If thou know not the Redeemer, If thou cling not to his cross? XIV. SELF-REPROACH. O the weakness, O the folly, That my heart did e'er entwine Round a joy, or hope, or promise, Vain, unstable World, of thine! Thou with all thy proffered treasure Shalt ere long from me remove:-- Turn, fond heart, with holy rapture, Unto God thy trust and love. Are there none of my companions, Will from life attend me forth, Or will fondly watch beside me In the cold and silent earth? All thy boasting this, O Friendship! Shedding tears and heaving sighs, When my need of thee is greatest, When thy doting votary dies? XV. APPEAL. Unhappy soul, what sayest thou To one with power and love All thy transgressions to forgive, Thy misery to remove? Wilt follow Him, poor guilty soul? He giveth life and He doth kill: Arise, arise, and in Him trust; Say, guilty soul, "I will!" His are the skies above thee spread, He sitteth on heaven's throne; All His, if thou art with him joined, He bids thee deem thine own. Wilt follow Him, sad, needy soul? He condescends to call thee still: Come, doubt no longer, in Him trust; Say, needy soul, "I will!" XVI. THE SEARCH. I had sought throughout creation, Searched its vast, amazing whole, For an object to delight in, Adequate to fill the soul. After turning nature's pages Forward, backward, o'er and o'er, I attained not satisfaction, But my longings grew the more. Then amid angelic orders Asked I if there were not one, Willing to extend his friendship To a wretched soul undone: Soon a lofty spirit answered, "No; there is not one of us, Can hold friendship with a spirit Fallen, guilty, wandering thus." Shame and grief now overwhelmed me,-- My sad heart was nigh to break, All my frame with terror trembled, And my tongue no more could speak; Then gushed forth a briny torrent, Down unto the crystal floor, Nothing through unending ages, Can from memory blot that hour.