Finis Coronat Opus

A gardener stoops, as ‘neath his hand, So small a sprout from barren sand Is springing forth, in gold sunlight, To leaves unfurl, and blossom bright. Long fallow sat the bone-dry soil, That heeded not the plowman’s toil, Nor the groundsmen’s striving so To break the earth and let things grow. No, not ’til gardener’s softest stroke, The spell of dust and ash he broke, Did flowers spring and cleansing rain Quench all the thirsty land again.

I walk amid a living throng That presses on toward gleaming dawn Through shade and darkness heavy, deep,  That threatens never-ending sleep. But waking, I, and hundreds more Must reach that glitt’ring, golden shore; ’Tis promised that the shades of night Will not prevent us nearing light. While on I press, sole foot-tread’s sound Is echoed as it touches ground; For though at first I trod alone, Now walks along with me, this one. This one has matched my onward tread, And presses on through stench of death, Through narrow pass and winding road, This one has shared my weary load. And on, with many thousands more, The one and I seek golden shore; So walk we on, with hand in hand, To gain, forever, Heaven’s land.

A gleam of brilliant, golden light Is cast from westward setting sun, And shining darts in path so bright, As straight a way as it may run. It gleams o’er meadow, field, and fen, Through mountain mists and valleys deep, Where cloud and dimness late have been, And shining ray now brings relief; Through forests thick with ancient trees, Upon the paths of olden tread To burn with silent flame the leaves Upon the aged, haunted bed; At last the gleaming beacon glows Amid the clouds set high aloft; The earth, and fields, and woods below Now lie beneath its light so soft.

In summer’s heat, on mountain path, Beneath a roof of green, I wend my way through bend and gap To river bank serene. I dip my hot and weary feet Into the chilly flow Of mountain water, coursing ‘neath The distant peaks of snow. So rest I there, in rippling stream, ‘Neath canopy of leaves, With nature singing, like a dream,  All worries to relieve.