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First Line: There is no death, there is but change
Last Line: There is but life -- there are no dead.
Subject(s): Epitaphs


There is no death, there is but change.
The seasons come, sunshine and storm,
And buds burst forth, all passing strange --
Though in their changing, change but form.

The oak tree thrives upon the hill,
And fishes grow within the sea;
All come, all go -- but ever still
Transmit one life eternally.

There is one life, there is one soul,
Though endless be the mystic tie;
Each climbing self doth claim the whole
That its perfection must imply.

Perfection -- this the end of life --
The driving urge which once begun --
It will not cease, this holy strife,
Till victory crowns each struggle won.

This then is faith: that man shall see
What now his infant soul doth feel;
That though the final goal shall be
Far, dim and vague, it must be real.

Or what could be this God of love?
And what could all this struggle mean
But that the fact of being prove
Man's God in truth shall yet be seen?

Yes, God of life, O, soul of love
That fathers things both great and small,
Who holdeth earth, the stars above,
In one great loving care for all.

So do not grieve; I have not gone.
My body is but garment shed.
If God be love, I am at home --
There is but life -- there are no dead.





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