One more from earth to heaven ascends;
Yet earth and heaven do lie so near
That still we walk with unseen friends
And our beloved still are here!

We feel upon our foreheads still
Their hands, we strive in vain to reach
While with the words of love they fill
The silence which is love's own speech.

The mystery thus we learn at last,
Uniting earth's divided lives,
That, all things mortal being passed,
Immortal, changeless love survives!

Sinning, and doubting overmuch,
Too oft we lose the vision clear,
The hearing keen, the subtle touch,
That link us to a higher sphere.

Welcome! thou dear Death-Angel, who
Undoest what our lives have done,
And, breaking our delusions through,
Makest once more the two worlds one!

Thy call is doom; thy touch is pain;
Thy boon is ours at fearful cost;
But thou dost give to us again
The priceless treasure we had lost.