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FUTURE STATES OF THE JUST AND THE UNJUST.
For in Nature's final strife
The mortal body perishes;
But the animating Spirit,
In which concentrated is
All we from the Gods inherit,
Must imperishably live.
This too, when in life we rest
No longer by the weight opprest
Of the dull and slumbering clay,
Often to the mind can give
Presages of coming fate,
Preludes of a nobler state,
Gleams of a brighter day.
The mortal body perishes;
But the animating Spirit,
In which concentrated is
All we from the Gods inherit,
Must imperishably live.
This too, when in life we rest
No longer by the weight opprest
Of the dull and slumbering clay,
Often to the mind can give
Presages of coming fate,
Preludes of a nobler state,
Gleams of a brighter day.
But the sinful Spirits' doom
Is to dwell in rayless gloom.
Floods of night and horror burst
Heavily o'er the soul accurst.
Theirs is the scourge's ceaseless stroke,
Th' unheeded howl, the struggle vain;
'Tis theirs to bear the blood-stain'd yoke
Of endless misery and pain.
Is to dwell in rayless gloom.
Floods of night and horror burst
Heavily o'er the soul accurst.
Theirs is the scourge's ceaseless stroke,
Th' unheeded howl, the struggle vain;
'Tis theirs to bear the blood-stain'd yoke
Of endless misery and pain.