The Poetry Corner

From Novalis

By George MacDonald

Uplifted is the stone And all mankind arisen! We are thy very own, We are no more in prison! What bitterest grief can stay Beside thy golden cup, When earth and life give way And with our Lord we sup! To the marriage Death doth call, The lamps are burning clear, The virgins, ready all, Have for their oil no fear. Would that even now were ringing The distance with thy throng! And that the stars were singing To us a human song! Courage! for life is hasting To endless life away; The inward fire, unwasting, Transfigures our dull clay! See the stars melting, sinking In life-wine golden-bright! We, of the splendour drinking, Shall grow to stars of light. Lost, lost are all our losses! Love is for ever free! The full life heaves and tosses Like an unbounded sea! One live, eternal story! One poem high and broad! And sun of all our glory The countenance of God!