The hands are resting from the long life's toil,--
_In coelo quies_.

I, mournful gazer, watching by the portal
Whence thou, from death to life, hast entered in,
Would fain catch one stray gleam of light immortal,
To tell me, ever drowning earth's wild din,
_In coelo quies_.

I might not hear the angel welcome ringing,
Nor see the pearly portals open wide,
Wherein the ransomed band, the new song singing,
In white robes wander by life's river side,
_In coelo quies_.

"_In coelo quies_," while the storms are beating
Along earth's desert moorlands, wild and wide;
While skies shall lower, and angry waves are meeting
Thy bark is moored--thou art beyond the tide,
_In coelo quies_.

"_In coelo quies_"--Rest, pure, deep, eternal,
Peace, in a perfect, blissful, endless calm;
Charmed by the beatific joys supernal,
Lull'd by the melody of seraph's psalm,
_In coelo quies_.

Here, we but dream it all--the rest--the glory,
Here we but yearn for it in sob and pain;
Till knees wax weary and till locks grow hoary,