“Happy are the dead”

I Walked the other day, to spend my hour, Into a field, Where I sometimes had seen the soil to yield A gallant flower: But winter now had ruffled all the bower And curious store I knew there heretofore. Yet I, whose search loved not to peep and peer In the face of things, Thought with myself, there might be other springs Beside this here, Which, like cold friends, sees us but once a year; And so the flower Might have some other bower. Then taking up what I could nearest spy, I digged about That place where I had seen him to grow out; And by and by I saw the warm recluse alone to lie, Where fresh and green He lived of us unseen. Many a question intricate and rare Did I there strow; But all I could extort was, that he now Did there repair Such losses as befell him in this air, And would erelong Come forth most fair and young. This past, I threw the clothes quite o’er his head; And, stung with fear Of my own frailty, dropped down many a tear Upon his bed; Then, sighing, whispered, Happy are the dead! What peace doth now Rock him asleep below! And yet, how few believe such doctrine springs From a poor root Which all the winter sleeps here under foot, And hath no wings To raise it to the truth and light of things, But is still trod By every wandering clod! O thou whose spirit did at first inflame And warm the dead! And by a sacred incubation fed With life this frame, Which once had neither being, form, nor name! Grant I may so Thy steps track here below, That in these masks and shadows I may see Thy sacred way; And by those hid ascents climb to that day Which breaks from thee, Who art in all things, though invisibly: Show me thy peace, Thy mercy, love, and ease. And from this care, where dreams and sorrows reign, Lead me above, Where light, joy, leisure, and true comforts move Without all pain: There, hid in thee, show me his life again At whose dumb urn Thus all the year I mourn.