The Great Hereafter
Will the wrongs of life be righted,
Fruited there the hopes here blighted,
In the great hereafter?
Will the darkened lives be lighted
And dissevered souls united
In the great hereafter?
Will this wearing, wild commotion
Sink to rest and sweet emotion
Calm all strife hereafter?
Will love’s slighted, fond devotion
Reach beyond life’s tossing ocean
To the great hereafter?
Will the vows here lightly broken
With repentant tears be spoken
In the great hereafter?
The wounded one accept the token
Of the heart’s remorse unspoken
In the great hereafter?
Gladly from its idols turning
Will the soul forget its yearning
In the great hereafter?
Thro’ a quickened sense discerning
That the labors we’ve been spurning
Keep love’s holy incense burning
In the great hereafter?
Shall we find that hopes deceiving
Helped us on to grand achieving
In the great hereafter?
And be blest with glad receiving
What is now but faith, believing
In the great hereafter?
Will the soul that’s drunk the vial
Of a bitter self-denial
Feel the loss hereafter?
Or, thro’ sacrifice and trial,
Will it triumph o’er Belial,
In the great hereafter?
Will the bands by dogmas riven
Scathed and scarred by anger levin,
Make a peaceful, joyous Heaven
In the great hereafter?
For the good for which they’ve striven
Will their errors be forgiven
In the great hereafter?
There, with pomp, his work resuming
Will the bigot, still presuming,
God’s prerogative assuming
In the great hereafter,
Sit as judge, his brother dooming,
And with creed-lit torch reluming
Fires of torture “unconsuming,”
Through the great hereafter?
Will the Wrong, the Right assailing,
Wring from suffering helpless wailing
In the great hereafter?—
Conquered Good, with banners trailing,
Seeking streams for Hope’s regaling,
Be mirage-lured, till faint and failing,
Faith becomes a phantom, sailing
Through the great hereafter?
Or, shall our spirit eyes beholding
God’s mysterious plans unfolding
In the great hereafter,
See His strength the Right upholding
And his love the weak enfolding
In the great hereafter?
Struggling here with opposition,
Gives, perchance, the strong volition
Some may need for angel mission,
In the great hereafter;
And the ills of life’s condition,
To the tried may bring fruition
Of a joyous, sweet elysian
In the great hereafter.
What has seemed Fate’s unfair dealing,
May unveil, a joy revealing
In the great hereafter:
Though denying our appealing,
Made in agony of feeling,
God may still, with love’s own healing,
Higher destiny, be sealing
For the Great Hereafter.