Literature/Alfred, Lord Tennyson/In Memoriam A.H.H.

In Memoriam A.H.H.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1849

Canto XXXII

Her eyes are homes of silent prayer,Nor other thought her mind admitsBut, he was dead, and there he sits,And he that brought him back is there.

Then one deep love doth supersedeAll other, when her ardent gazeRoves from the living brother’s face,And rests upon the Life indeed.

All subtle thought, all curious fears,Borne down by gladness so complete,She bows, she bathes the Saviour’s feetWith costly spikenard and with tears.

Thrice blest whose lives are faithful prayers,Whose loves in higher love endure;What souls possess themselves so pure,Or is there blessedness like theirs?