English poem
Behold A Shaking.
by Christina Georgina Rossetti
1.
Man rising to the doom that shall not err,-- Which hath most dread: the arouse of all or each; All kindreds of all nations of all speech, Or one by one of him and him and her? While dust reanimate begins to stir Here, there, beyond, beyond, reach beyond reach; While every wave refashions on the beach Alive or dead-in-life some seafarer. Now meeting doth not join or parting part; True meeting and true parting wait till then, When whoso meet are joined for evermore, Face answering face and heart at rest in heart:-- God bring us all rejoicing to the shore Of happy Heaven, His sheep home to the pen.
2.
Blessèd that flock safe penned in Paradise; Blessèd this flock which tramps in weary ways; All form one flock, God's flock; all yield Him praise By joy or pain, still tending toward the prize. Joy speaks in praises there, and sings and flies Where no night is, exulting all its days; Here, pain finds solace, for, behold, it prays; In both love lives the life that never dies. Here life is the beginning of our death, And death the starting-point whence life ensues; Surely our life is death, our death is life: Nor need we lay to heart our peace or strife, But calm in faith and patience breathe the breath God gave, to take again when He shall choose.
ALL SAINTS.
They are flocking from the East And the West, They are flocking from the North And the South, Every moment setting forth From realm of snake or lion, Swamp or sand, Ice or burning; Greatest and least, Palm in hand And praise in mouth, They are flocking up the path To their rest, Up the path that hath No returning.
Up the steeps of Zion They are mounting, Coming, coming, Throngs beyond man's counting; With a sound Like innumerable bees Swarming, humming Where flowering trees Many-tinted, Many-scented, All alike abound With honey,-- With a swell Like a blast upswaying unrestrainable From a shadowed dell To the hill-tops sunny,-- With a thunder Like the ocean when in strength Breadth and length It sets to shore; More and more Waves on waves redoubled pour Leaping flashing to the shore (Unlike the under Drain of ebb that loseth ground For all its roar.)
They are thronging From the East and West, From the North and South, Saints are thronging, loving, longing, To their land Of rest, Palm in hand And praise in mouth.