Mimnermus in Church — William Johnson Cory

You promise heavens free from strife,Pure truth, and perfect change of will;But sweet, sweet is this human life,So sweet, I fain would breathe it still;Your chilly stars I can forgo,This warm kind world is all I know.

You say there is no substance here,One great reality above:Back from that void I shrink in fear,And child-like hide myself in love:Show me what angels feel. Till thenI cling, a mere weak man, to men.

You bid me lift my mean desiresFrom faltering lips and fitful veinsTo sexless souls, ideal quires,Unwearied voices, wordless strains:My mind with fonder welcome ownsOne dear dead friend's remember'd tones.

Forsooth the present we must giveTo that which cannot pass away;All beauteous things for which we liveBy laws of time and space decay.But O, the very reason whyI clasp them, is because they die.