The Lost Soul

Descend

O sin­ner

to the woe!

Thy day of hope is done;

Light shall re­vis­it thee no more

Life with its san­guine dreams is o’er

Love reach­es not yon aw­ful shore;

For ev­er sets thy sun!

Pass down to the eter­nal dark;

Yet not for rest nor sleep;

Thine is the ev­er­last­ing tomb

Thine the in­ex­or­able doom

The moon­less

morn­less

sun­less gloom

Where souls for ev­er weep.

Depart

lost soul

thy tears to weep

Thy nev­er dry­ing tears;

To sigh the nev­er end­ing sigh

To send up the un­heed­ed cry

Into the un­re­spond­ing sky

Whose si­lence mocks thy fears.

Call up­on God; He hears no more;

Call up­on death; ’tis dead;

Ask the live light­nings in their flight

Seek for some sword of hell and night

The worm that nev­er dies to smite;

No wea­pon strikes its head.

Thou liv­est

and must ev­er live;

But life is now thy foe;

Thine is the sor­row shri­veled brow

Thine the eter­nal heart­ache now

’Neath the long burd­en thou must bow

The liv­ing death of woe.

Thy songs are at an end; thy harp

Shall so­lace thee no more;

All mirth has per­ished on thy grave

The me­lo­dy that could not save

Has died up­on death’s sul­len wave

That flung thee on this shore.

Earth

with its waves

and woods

and winds

Its stars

and suns

and streams

Its joy­ous air and gen­tle skies

Filled with all hap­py me­lo­dies

Has passed

or

with dark me­mo­ries

Comes back in tor­tur­ing dreams.

Never again shalt thou be­hold

As when a bound­ing boy

The fresh buds of the frag­rant spring

Its song birds on their Ap­ril wing

And all its vales a-blos­som­ing;

Or sum­mer’s ro­sy joy.

No riv­er of for­get­ful­ness

As po­ets dreamed and sung

Rolls yon­der to ef­face the past

To quench the sense of what thou wast

To soothe or end thy pain at last

Or cool thy burn­ing tongue.

No God is there; no Christ; for He

Whose word on earth was Come

Hath said

De­part: go

lost one

go

Reap the sad har­vest thou didst sow

Join yon lost an­gels in their woe

Their pri­son is thy home.

Descend

O sin­ner

to the gloom!

Hear the deep judg­ment-knell

Send forth its ter­ror-shriek­ing sound

These walls of ada­mant around

And fill­ing to its ut­most bound

Thy woe­ful

woe­ful hell.

Depart

O sin­ner

to the chain!

Enter the eter­nal cell;

To all that’s good

and true

and right

To all that’s fond

and fair

and bright

To all of ho­li­ness and light

Bid thou thy last fare­well!