Memoriam

“He asked life of thee, and thou gavest him a long life, even for ever and ever.”

Life-length of days-the time to work and strive

In his Lord’s vineyard; to bring heavenly light

Into the drear, dark places of the earth,

And make them fair and fruitful in His sight.

Life-it seem’d all so bright and beautiful once!

It lay spread out before his kindling eyes,

A land of sunny hills, in white mist veil’d,

Of sweet green valleys under summer skies.

Such tender light and tender shadows there!

No dazzling blaze, no savage blots of gloom,

No keen-cut outline of the barren cliff,

No glaring waste,-but all one gentle bloom

Of happy, innocent hope,-a morning tint

Of pearly grey and gold, with just a shade

Of bright cloud-colour, giving life to it,-

He saw not then the havoc death had made.

But soon the white mist melted in the heat

Of noonday, and the wasted fields lay bare-

Vineyard of Eden-like a bright face, scarred

With sin and shame and weariness and care.

And his vague aspiration took a shape.

“Grant me, dear Lord, if it seem good to Thee,

To labour here, with manhood’s utter strength,-

O Lord, good Lord, intrust this work to me!

“Let me have time to toil-a long, long day-

To dig and delve and root out wasteful weeds,

To cut down briars and thorns, and help to plough

Furrows where angels may sow heavenly seeds.

“Give me to foster, with my faith and love,

Frail, early flowers, that fear to droop and fade!

Father, I will not shrink for bleeding hands,

For heat nor cold-I do not feel afraid!”

His voice was heard-his will accepted. God

Gave deep and true fulfilment to his prayer,-

Life-life eternal, which should nevermore

The taint of death, or sin, or sorrow bear!

Oh pray, ye blind ones, as the beggar pray’d

When He of Nazareth pass’d by! Oh pray

With simple faith and worship,-fear ye not

God’s gracious ear will deafly turn away.

Ye know He bids us to tell out our wants,

Knowing them all; give up to Him your will,

And trust Him-trust Him. In his wondrous love

He deigns the lowliest longing to fulfil.

Ay, and with that fulfilment which we ne’er

Shall grasp or fathom-till we come to see

Our strange, mysterious human life unveil’d

In the clear daylight of eternity.

The beggar ask’d for sight-Christ answer’d him,

For his faith’s sake, and gave him sight indeed.

Just so his silent hands and darken’d eyes

Were lifted once, for grace of “life” to plead.

And God fulfilled his prayer as utterly!

He gave him life-the life of saints above,

Beyond all earthly dreaming sweet and glad-

An endless life in His eternal love!

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External links

Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

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Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Poems in English 

• Hear the Voice by William Blake by William Blake
• Introduction to the Songs of Innocence by William Blake by William Blake
• French Revolution, The (excerpt) by William Blake by William Blake
• I Saw a Chapel by William Blake by William Blake
• I Heard an Angel by William Blake by William Blake
• Broken Love by William Blake by William Blake
• Eternity by William Blake by William Blake
• Holy Thursday (Innocence) by William Blake by William Blake
• Ah! Sun-Flower by William Blake by William Blake
• A Cradle Song by William Blake by William Blake
• Earth’s Answer by William Blake by William Blake
• A Dream by William Blake by William Blake
• Infant Joy by William Blake by William Blake
• Evening Star by William Blake by William Blake
• Auguries Of Innocence by William Blake by William Blake
• And Did Those Feet In Ancient Time by William Blake by William Blake
• Infant Sorrow by William Blake by William Blake
• If It Is True What the Prophets Write by William Blake by William Blake
• How Sweet I Roam’d by William Blake by William Blake
• Holy Thursday (Experience) by William Blake by William Blake

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

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Doska or the Board – write anything

Search engines:

Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)

Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.

Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees

Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

 

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