Part 2 — CLOSE, CLOSE BY AIDENN’S HAPPY PORTALS
Reading edition
Close, close by Aidenn’s happy portals My tent is pitched forevermore,[2] Through which to join the bright immortals, My loved and lost have gone before. In noontide trance and starry dream Their forms transfigured oft I see; Though Death’s cold river flows between, Their gentle whispers come to me. And Aidenn’s walls I see in dreams, Its shining turrets golden-tiled; But swiftly fade their lovely gleams, And leave behind a longing wild. There cleansed and pure from earthly stain, Full many a martyred spirit dwells, Through fire and wrong that did attain Those far celestial citadels. Ye white-robed warders, strong and bright, That on those shining summits stand, Entreat for me the Prince of Light, That I may reach his happy land.