OUT OF THE BLACKNESS
Reading edition
Out of the blackness into the light,
From birth to death—a swallow's flight.
Stars burning fainter, onward we strive.
Cauldron of dawn! The East's alive.
Joy in the journey, joy at the last;
Day in its splendour—darkness past!
In life's beginning clouds to be trod;
At its brave ending, sunrise—God.
From the veiled Hereafter
Whither you have fled,
Snatches of your laughter
Vaguely wed
With rustling of field-flowers,
Angel-stirred,
Guarded by God's towers,
I have heard.
God, in His compassion,
Left Death's gate ajar
So our faith might fashion
Where you are;
God's Mother walks beside you,
Hand-in-hand,
And Lord Christ doth guide you,
Through that Land.