When my bier moveth on the day of Death, Think not my heart is in this world. Do not weep in the devil's snare: that is woe. When thou seest my hearse, cry not "Parted, parted!" Union and meeting are mine in that hour. If thou commit me to the grave, say not "Farewell, farewell!" For the grave is a curtain hiding the communion of Paradise, After beholding descent, consider resurrection; Why should setting be injurious to the sun and moon? To thee it seems a setting, but 'tis a rising; Tho' the vault seems a prison, 'tis the release of the soul. * * * * * * * *¨* * * * * * * Shut thy mouth on this side and open it beyond, For in placeless air will be thy triumphal song. THE WHOLE AND THE PART Beware! do not keep, in a circle of reprobates, Thine eye shut like a bud, thy mouth open like the rose. The world resembles a mirror: thy Love is the perfect image: O people, who has ever seen a part greater than the whole? THE DIVINE FRIEND Look on me, for thou art my companion in the grave On the night when thou shalt pass from shop and dwelling. Thou shalt hear my hail in the hollow of the tomb: it shall become known to thee That thou wast never concealed from mine eye. I am as reason and intellect within thy bosom At the time of joy and gladness, at the time of sorrow and distress. * * * * * * * *¨* * * * * * * In the hour when the intellectual lamp is lighted, What a pears goes up from the dead men in the tombs! ASPIRATION Haste, haste! for we too, O soul, are coming From this world of severance to that world of Union. O how long shall we, like children, in the earthly sphere Fill our lap with dust and stones and sherds? Let us give up the earth and fly heavenwards, Let us flee from childhood to the banquet of men. Behold how the earthly frame has entrapped thee! Rend the sack and raise thy head clear. "I WELL CHERISH THE SOUL" "I am a painter, a maker of pictures; every moment I shape a beauteous form, And then in Thy presence I melt them all away. I call up a hundred phantoms and indue them with a spirit; When I behold Thy phantom, I cast them in the fire." * * * * * * * *¨* * * * * * * Lo! I will cherish the soul, because it has a perfume of Thee. Every drop of blood which proceeds from me is saying to Thy dust: "I am one colour with Thy love, I am a partner of Thy affection." In the house of water and clay this heart is desolate without Thee; O Beloved, enter the house, or I will leave it. "THIS IS LOVE"