Who is immortal ? (1903)
J. A. Andrews
Who is immortal ? Some believeAnd some deny the Church's creeds ;
Yet these may both be false and true--
The truth in phrases hid, as seeds
In nutshells closed. We live. We die.
Have we a life beyond the tomb ?
What ray of light can pierce the gloom,
And to our question bring reply ? The ghosts of Heaven and Earth and Hell
To us are empty phantasies ;
Such faith for savages were well,
But we hold lightly dreams like these.
Our after-world must different be,
And such as riper thought can hold,
And reasoned speech with proof unfold :
What, then, is Immortality ? Who is immortal ? Is it he
Who wins on earth transcendent fame,
That on through centuries, men see
The blazing lustre of his name ?
But no ! the Ages roll and fly,
And deeds of heroes we forget ;
Their names like phantoms linger yet
A little while--then these, too, die. This, too, is vain--search forth anew !
The Life, the Spirit, what may be ?
What but the moulded force, that through
And from us works eternally ?
Daily our cast-off atoms flee--
The self--the tendency--remains.
This works on all around--attains
To consciousness in more than "we." Who is immortal ? He whose will
Spreads curses round him near and far--
Maims his own race with wounds of ill,
And sends prosperity a scar
His life of deeds lives on in woes
Of generations suffering sore,
Yet time will spread sweet healing o'er,
And good from evil often grows. Who is immortal ? He whose life
Is blent with other lives in good--
Truth taught Right wakened, Joy made rife--
His is the life that lives renewed !
Though name and deeds forgotten be,
He lives with ever-gathering force--
He lives in Evolutions course--
He lives through all Eternity ! Notes From the Victorian journal The Tocsin 8 Oct 1903 p. 5.