An Anthology of Australian Verse/Personality

"Death is to us change, not consummation." — Heart of Midlothian.

A change! no, surely, not a change, The change must be before we die; Death may confer a wider range, From pole to pole, from sea to sky, It cannot make me new or strange To mine own Personality!

For what am I? — this mortal flesh, These shrinking nerves, this feeble frame, For ever racked with ailments fresh And scarce from day to day the same — A fly within the spider's mesh, A moth that plays around the flame!

This is not I — within such coil The immortal spirit rests awhile: When this shall lie beneath the soil, Which its mere mortal parts defile, That shall for ever live and foil Mortality, and pain, and guile.

Whatever Time may make of me  Eternity must see me still Clear from the dross of earth, and free From every stain of every ill; Yet still, where-e'er — what-e'er I be, Time's work Eternity must fill.

When all the worlds have ceased to roll, When the long light has ceased to quiver When we have reached our final goal And stand beside the Living River, This vital spark — this loving soul, Must last for ever and for ever.

To choose what I must be is mine, Mine in these few and fleeting days, I may be if I will, divine, Standing before God's throne in praise, — Through all Eternity to shine In yonder Heaven's sapphire blaze.

Father, the soul that counts it gain To love Thee and Thy law on earth, Unchanged but free from mortal stain, Increased in knowledge and in worth, And purified from this world's pain, Shall find through Thee a second birth.

A change! no surely not a change! The change must be before we die; Death may confer a wider range From world to world, from sky to sky, It cannot make me new or strange To mine own Personality!