{
 "id": "john-henry-newman/the-dream-of-gerontius",
 "title": "The Dream of Gerontius",
 "ordinal": "CLXXVIII",
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Henry Newman",
 "poet_slug": "john-henry-newman",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Verses on Various Occasions",
 "book_slug": "verses-on-various-occasions",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 178,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1903,
  "venue": "Verses on Various Occasions (1903)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/a600744000newmuoft"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/john-henry-newman_verses-on-various-occasions",
  "file": "the-dream-of-gerontius.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "http://www.newmanreader.org/works/verses",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009038168",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48927",
   "https://archive.org/details/dreamofgerontius01newmuoft"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 901,
  "n_stanzas": 108,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Jesu, Maria⁠—I am near to death,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Thou art calling me; I know it now⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Not by the token of this faltering breath,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "This chill at heart, this dampness on my brow,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "(Jesu, have mercy! Mary, pray for me!)⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis this new feeling, never felt before,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "(Be with me, Lord, in my extremity!)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That I am going, that I am no more.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis this strange innermost abandonment,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Lover of souls! great God! I look to Thee,)",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "This emptying out of each constituent",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And natural force, by which I come to be.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Pray for me, O my friends; a visitant",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is knocking his dire summons at my door,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The like of whom, to scare me and to daunt,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Has never, never come to me before;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis death⁠—O loving friends, your prayers!⁠—’tis he!⁠ ⁠…",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As though my very being had given way,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As though I was no more a substance now,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And could fall back on nought to be my stay,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Help, loving Lord! Thou my sole Refuge, Thou,)",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And turn no whither, but must needs decay",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And drop from out the universal frame",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Into that shapeless, scopeless, blank abyss,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That utter nothingness, of which I came:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "This is it that has come to pass in me;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O horror! this it is, my dearest, this;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So pray for me, my friends, who have not strength to pray.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Kyrie eleïson, Christe eleïson, Kyrie eleïson.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Holy Mary, pray for him.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All holy Angels, pray for him.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Choirs of the righteous, pray for him.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Holy Abraham, pray for him.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "St. John Baptist, St. Joseph, pray for him.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Andrew, St. John,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All Apostles, all Evangelists, pray for him.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All holy Disciples of the Lord, pray for him.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All holy Innocents, pray for him.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All holy Martyrs, all holy Confessors,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All holy Hermits, all holy Virgins,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All ye Saints of God, pray for him.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Rouse thee, my fainting soul, and play the man;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And through such waning span",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Of life and thought as still has to be trod,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Prepare to meet thy God.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And while the storm of that bewilderment",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is for a season spent,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And, ere afresh the ruin on thee fall,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Use well the interval.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Be merciful, be gracious; spare him, Lord.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Be merciful, be gracious; Lord, deliver him.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From the sins that are past;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "From Thy frown and Thine ire;",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "From the perils of dying;",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "From any complying",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "With sin, or denying",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "His God, or relying",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "On self, at the last;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "From the nethermost fire",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "From all that is evil;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "From power of the devil;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Thy servant deliver,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "For once and for ever.",
    "indent": 2
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "By Thy birth, and by Thy Cross,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Rescue him from endless loss;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "By Thy death and burial,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Save him from a final fall;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "By Thy rising from the tomb,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "By Thy mounting up above,",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "By the Spirit’s gracious love,",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "Save him in the day of doom.",
    "indent": 2
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Sanctus fortis, Sanctus Deus,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "De profundis oro te,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Miserere, Judex meus,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Parce mihi, Domine.",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Firmly I believe and truly",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "God is Three, and God is One;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And I next acknowledge duly",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Manhood taken by the Son.",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And I trust and hope most fully",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In that Manhood crucified;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And each thought and deed unruly",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Do to death, as He has died.",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Simply to His grace and wholly",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Light and life and strength belong,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And I love, supremely, solely,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Him the holy, Him the strong.",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Sanctus fortis, Sanctus Deus,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "De profundis oro te,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Miserere, Judex meus,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Parce mihi, Domine.",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And I hold in veneration,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For the love of Him alone,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Holy Church, as His creation,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And her teachings, as His own.",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And I take with joy whatever",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Now besets me, pain or fear,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And with a strong will I sever",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All the ties which bind me here.",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Adoration aye be given",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With and through the angelic host,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "To the God of earth and heaven,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Sanctus fortis, Sanctus Deus,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "De profundis oro te,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Miserere, Judex meus,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mortis in discrimine.",
    "indent": 2
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I can no more; for now it comes again,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That sense of ruin, which is worse than pain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That masterful negation and collapse",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of all that makes me man; as though I bent",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Over the dizzy brink",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of some sheer infinite descent;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or worse, as though",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Down, down for ever I was falling through",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The solid framework of created things,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And needs must sink and sink",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into the vast abyss. And, crueller still,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A fierce and restless fright begins to fill",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The mansion of my soul. And, worse and worse,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some bodily form of ill",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Floats on the wind, with many a loathsome curse",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Tainting the hallowed air, and laughs, and flaps",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Its hideous wings,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And makes me wild with horror and dismay.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O Jesu, help! pray for me, Mary, pray!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some angel, Jesu! such as came to Thee",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In Thine own agony.⁠ ⁠…",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mary, pray for me. Joseph, pray for me.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mary, pray for me.",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Rescue him, O Lord, in this his evil hour,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As of old so many by Thy gracious power:⁠—(Amen.)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Enoch and Elias from the common doom; (Amen.)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Noe from the waters in a saving home; (Amen.)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Abraham from th’ abounding guilt of Heathenesse; (Amen.)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Job from all his multiform and fell distress; (Amen.)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Isaac, when his father’s knife was raised to slay; (Amen.)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lot from burning Sodom on its judgment-day; (Amen.)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Moses from the land of bondage and despair; (Amen.)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Daniel from the hungry lions in their lair; (Amen.)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the Children Three amid the furnace-flame; (Amen.)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Chaste Susanna from the slander and the shame; (Amen.)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "David from Golia and the wrath of Saul; (Amen.)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the two Apostles from their prison-thrall; (Amen.)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thecla from her torments; (Amen.)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "—so, to show Thy power,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rescue this Thy servant in his evil hour.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Novissima hora est; and I fain would sleep,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The pain has wearied me.⁠ ⁠… Into Thy hands,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O Lord, into Thy hands.⁠ ⁠…",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Proficiscere, anima Christiana, de hoc mundo!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Go forth upon thy journey, Christian soul!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Go from this world! Go, in the name of God,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The omnipotent Father, who created thee!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Go, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Son of the living God, who bled for thee!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Go, in the Name of the Holy Spirit, who",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hath been poured out on thee! Go, in the name",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Angels and Archangels; in the name",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Thrones and Dominations; in the name",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Princedoms and of Powers; and in the name",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Cherubim and Seraphim, go forth!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Go, in the name of Patriarchs and Prophets;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And of Apostles and Evangelists,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Martyrs and Confessors; in the name",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of holy Monks and Hermits; in the name",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of holy Virgins; and all Saints of God,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Both men and women, go! Go on thy course;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And may thy place to-day be found in peace,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And may thy dwelling be the Holy Mount",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Zion:⁠—in the Name of Christ, our Lord.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I went to sleep; and now I am refreshed.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A strange refreshment: for I feel in me",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An inexpressive lightness, and a sense",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of freedom, as I were at length myself,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And ne’er had been before. How still it is!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I hear no more the busy beat of time,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No, nor my fluttering breath, nor struggling pulse;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor does one moment differ from the next.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I had a dream; yes:⁠—some one softly said",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“He’s gone”; and then a sigh went round the room.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And then I surely heard a priestly voice",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Cry “Subvenite”; and they knelt in prayer.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I seem to hear him still; but thin and low,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And fainter and more faint the accents come,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As at an ever-widening interval.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ah! whence is this? What is this severance?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "This silence pours a solitariness",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into the very essence of my soul;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the deep rest, so soothing and so sweet,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hath something too of sternness and of pain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For it drives back my thoughts upon their spring",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By a strange introversion, and perforce",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I now begin to feed upon myself,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Because I have nought else to feed upon.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Am I alive or dead? I am not dead,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But in the body still; for I possess",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A sort of confidence which clings to me,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That each particular organ holds its place",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As heretofore, combining with the rest",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into one symmetry, that wraps me round,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And makes me man; and surely I could move,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Did I but will it, every part of me.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And yet I cannot to my sense bring home,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By very trial, that I have the power.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis strange; I cannot stir a hand or foot,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I cannot make my fingers or my lips",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By mutual pressure witness each to each,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor by the eyelid’s instantaneous stroke",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Assure myself I have a body still.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor do I know my very attitude,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor if I stand, or lie, or sit, or kneel.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So much I know, not knowing how I know,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That the vast universe, where I have dwelt,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is quitting me, or I am quitting it.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or I or it is rushing on the wings",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of light or lightning on an onward course,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And we e’en now are million miles apart.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet⁠ ⁠… is this peremptory severance",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Wrought out in lengthening measurements of space,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which grow and multiply by speed and time?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or am I traversing infinity",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By endless subchapter, hurrying back",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From finite towards infinitesimal,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thus dying out of the expansive world?",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Another marvel: someone has me fast",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Within his ample palm; ’tis not a grasp",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Such as they use on earth, but all around",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Over the surface of my subtle being,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As though I were a sphere, and capable",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To be accosted thus, a uniform",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And gentle pressure tells me I am not",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Self-moving, but borne forward on my way.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And hark! I hear a singing; yet in sooth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I cannot of that music rightly say",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whether I hear or touch or taste the tones.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Oh what a heart-subduing melody!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "My work is done,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My task is o’er,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And so I come,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Taking it home,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "For the crown is won,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Alleluia.",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "For evermore.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "My Father gave",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In charge to me",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "This child of earth",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "E’en from its birth,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "To serve and save,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Alleluia,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And saved is he.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "This child of clay",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To me was given,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To rear and train",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "By sorrow and pain",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "In the narrow way,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Alleluia,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "From earth to heaven.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "It is a member of that family",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of wondrous beings, who, ere the worlds were made,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Millions of ages back, have stood around",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The throne of God:⁠—he never has known sin;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But through those cycles all but infinite,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Has had a strong and pure celestial life,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And born to gaze on th’ unveiled face of God",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And drank from the eternal Fount of truth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And served Him with a keen ecstatic love.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hark! he begins again.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O Lord, how wonderful in depth and height,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But most in man, how wonderful Thou art!",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "With what a love, what soft persuasive might",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Victorious o’er the stubborn fleshly heart",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Thy tale complete of saints Thou dost provide",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To fill the thrones which angels lost through pride!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He lay a grovelling babe upon the ground,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Polluted in the blood of his first sire,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "With his whole essence shattered and unsound,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And, coiled around his heart, a demon dire,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Which was not of his nature, but had skill",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To bind and form his opening mind to ill.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then was I sent from heaven to set right",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The balance in his soul of truth and sin,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And I have waged a long relentless fight,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Resolved that death-environed spirit to win,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Which from its fallen state, when all was lost,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Had been repurchased at so dread a cost.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Oh what a shifting parti-coloured scene",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of hope and fear, of triumph and dismay,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Of recklessness and penitence, has been",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The history of that dreary, lifelong fray!",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And oh the grace to nerve him and to lead,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "How patient, prompt, and lavish at his need!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O man, strange composite of heaven and earth!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Majesty dwarfed to baseness! fragrant flower",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Running to poisonous seed! and seeming worth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Cloking corruption! weakness mastering power!",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Who never art so near to crime and shame,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "As when thou hast achieved some deed of name;⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "How should ethereal natures comprehend",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A thing made up of spirit and of clay,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Were we not tasked to nurse it and to tend,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Linked one to one throughout its mortal day?",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "More than the Seraph in his height of place,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The Angel-guardian knows and loves the ransomed race.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Now know I surely that I am at length",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Out of the body: had I part with earth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I never could have drunk those accents in,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And not have worshipped as a god the voice",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That was so musical; but now I am",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So whole of heart, so calm, so self-possessed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With such a full content, and with a sense",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So apprehensive and discriminant,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As no temptation can intoxicate.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor have I even terror at the thought",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That I am clasped by such a saintliness.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "All praise to Him, at whose sublime decree",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The last are first, the first become the last;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "By whom the suppliant prisoner is set free,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By whom proud first-borns from their thrones are cast,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Who raises Mary to be Queen of heaven,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "While Lucifer is left, condemned and unforgiven.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I will address him. Mighty one, my Lord,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My Guardian Spirit, all hail!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "All hail, my child!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My child and brother, hail! what wouldest thou?",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I would have nothing but to speak with thee",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For speaking’s sake. I wish to hold with thee",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Conscious communion; though I fain would know",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A maze of things, were it but meet to ask,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And not a curiousness.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "You cannot now",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Cherish a wish which ought not to be wished.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then I will speak. I ever had believed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That on the moment when the struggling soul",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Quitted its mortal case, forthwith it fell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Under the awful Presence of its God,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There to be judged and sent to its own place.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What lets me now from going to my Lord?",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Thou art not let; but with extremest speed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Art hurrying to the Just and Holy Judge:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For scarcely art thou disembodied yet.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Divide a moment, as men measure time,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into its million-million-millionth part,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet even less than that the interval",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Since thou didst leave the body; and the priest",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Cried “Subvenite,” and they fell to prayer;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nay, scarcely yet have they begun to pray.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For spirits and men by different standards mete",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The less and greater in the flow of time.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By sun and moon, primeval ordinances⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By stars which rise and set harmoniously⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By the recurring seasons, and the swing,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "This way and that, of the suspended rod",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Precise and punctual, men divide the hours,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Equal, continuous, for their common use.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not so with us in the immaterial world;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But intervals in their succession",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are measured by the living thought alone,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And grow or wane with its intensity.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And time is not a common property;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But what is long is short, and swift is slow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And near is distant, as received and grasped",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By this mind and by that, and every one",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is standard of his own chronology.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And memory lacks its natural resting-points",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of years, and centuries, and periods.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It is thy very energy of thought",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which keeps thee from thy God.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Dear Angel, say,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Why have I now no fear at meeting Him?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Along my earthly life, the thought of death",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And judgment was to me most terrible.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I had it aye before me, and I saw",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Judge severe e’en in the crucifix.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Now that the hour is come, my fear is fled;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And at this balance of my destiny,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Now close upon me, I can forward look",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With a serenest joy.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "It is because",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then thou didst fear, that now thou dost not fear.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thou hast forestalled the agony, and so",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For thee the bitterness of death is past.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Also, because already in thy soul",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The judgment is begun. That day of doom,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "One and the same for the collected world⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That solemn consummation for all flesh,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is, in the case of each, anticipate",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon his death; and, as the last great day",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the particular judgment is rehearsed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So now too, ere thou comest to the Throne,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A presage falls upon thee, as a ray",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Straight from the Judge, expressive of thy lot.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That calm and joy uprising in thy soul",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is first-fruit to thee of thy recompense,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And heaven begun.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But hark! upon my sense",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Comes a fierce hubbub, which would make me fear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Could I be frighted.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "We are now arrived",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Close on the judgment court; that sullen howl",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is from the demons who assemble there.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It is the middle region, where of old",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Satan appeared among the sons of God,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To cast his jibes and scoffs at holy Job.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So now his legions throng the vestibule,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hungry and wild, to claim their property,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And gather souls for hell. Hist to their cry.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "How sour and how uncouth a dissonance!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Low-born clods",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of brute earth,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "They aspire",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "To become gods,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By a new birth,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And an extra grace,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And a score of merits.",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "As if aught",
    "indent": 7
   },
   {
    "text": "Could stand in place",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the high thought,",
    "indent": 7
   },
   {
    "text": "And the glance of fire",
    "indent": 5
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the great spirits,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "The powers blest,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The lords by right,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "The primal owners,",
    "indent": 5
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the proud dwelling",
    "indent": 7
   },
   {
    "text": "And realm of light⁠—",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Dispossessed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Aside thrust,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Chucked down,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By the sheer might",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Of a despot’s will,",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "Of a tyrant’s frown.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who after expelling",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "Their hosts, gave,",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "Triumphant still,",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "And still unjust,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each forfeit crown",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To psalm-droners,",
    "indent": 6
   },
   {
    "text": "And canting groaners,",
    "indent": 6
   },
   {
    "text": "To every slave,",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "And pious cheat,",
    "indent": 6
   },
   {
    "text": "And crawling knave,",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "Who licked the dust",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Under his feet.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "It is the restless panting of their being;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like beasts of prey, who, caged within their bars,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In a deep hideous purring have their life,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And an incessant pacing to and fro.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The mind bold",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And independent,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "The purpose free,",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "So we are told,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Must not think",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "To have the ascendant.",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "What’s a saint?",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "One whose breath",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Doth the air taint",
    "indent": 6
   },
   {
    "text": "Before his death;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "A bundle of bones,",
    "indent": 6
   },
   {
    "text": "Which fools adore,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Ha! ha!",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "When life is o’er,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Which rattle and stink,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "E’en in the flesh.",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "We cry his pardon!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No flesh hath he;",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "Ha! ha!",
    "indent": 6
   },
   {
    "text": "For it hath died,",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis crucified",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "Day by day,",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "Afresh, afresh,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Ha! ha!",
    "indent": 6
   },
   {
    "text": "That holy clay,",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "Ha! ha!",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "This gains guerdon,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So priestlings prate,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Ha! ha!",
    "indent": 7
   },
   {
    "text": "Before the Judge,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And pleads and atones",
    "indent": 6
   },
   {
    "text": "For spite and grudge,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And bigot mood,",
    "indent": 6
   },
   {
    "text": "And envy and hate,",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "And greed of blood.",
    "indent": 6
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "How impotent they are! and yet on earth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They have repute for wondrous power and skill;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And books describe, how that the very face",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the Evil One, if seen, would have a force",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Even to freeze the blood, and choke the life",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of him who saw it.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "In thy trial-state",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thou hadst a traitor nestling close at home,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Connatural, who with the powers of hell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was leagued, and of thy senses kept the keys,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And to that deadliest foe unlocked thy heart.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And therefore is it, in respect to man,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Those fallen ones show so majestical.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But, when some child of grace, angel or saint,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Pure and upright in his integrity",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of nature, meets the demons on their raid,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They scud away as cowards from the fight.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nay, oft hath holy hermit in his cell,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not yet disburdened of mortality,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mocked at their threats and warlike overtures;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or, dying, when they swarmed, like flies, around,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Defied them, and departed to his Judge.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Virtue and vice,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A knave’s pretence.",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis all the same;",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "Ha! ha!",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "Dread of hell-fire,",
    "indent": 6
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the venomous flame,",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "A coward’s plea.",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "Give him his price,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Saint though he be,",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "Ha! ha!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From shrewd good sense",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "He’ll slave for hire;",
    "indent": 6
   },
   {
    "text": "Ha! ha!",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "And does but aspire",
    "indent": 6
   },
   {
    "text": "To the heaven above",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With sordid aim,",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "And not from love.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ha! ha!",
    "indent": 6
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I see not those false spirits; shall I see",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My dearest Master, when I reach His throne;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or hear, at least, His awful judgment-word",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With personal intonation, as I now",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hear thee, not see thee, Angel? Hitherto",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All has been darkness since I left the earth;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shall I remain thus sight bereft all through",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My penance time? If so, how comes it then",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That I have hearing still, and taste, and touch,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet not a glimmer of that princely sense",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which binds ideas in one, and makes them live?",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Nor touch, nor taste, nor hearing hast thou now;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thou livest in a world of signs and types,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The presentations of most holy truths,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Living and strong, which now encompass thee.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A disembodied soul, thou hast by right",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No converse with aught else beside thyself;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But, lest so stern a solitude should load",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And break thy being, in mercy are vouchsafed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some lower measures of perception,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which seem to thee, as though through channels brought,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Through ear, or nerves, or palate, which are gone.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And thou art wrapped and swathed around in dreams,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dreams that are true, yet enigmatical;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For the belongings of thy present state,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Save through such symbols, come not home to thee.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And thus thou tell’st of space, and time, and size,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of fragrant, solid, bitter, musical,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of fire, and of refreshment after fire;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As (let me use similitude of earth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To aid thee in the knowledge thou dost ask)⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As ice which blisters may be said to burn.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor hast thou now extension, with its parts",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Correlative⁠—long habit cozens thee⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor power to move thyself, nor limbs to move.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hast thou not heard of those, who, after loss",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of hand or foot, still cried that they had pains",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In hand or foot, as though they had it still?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So is it now with thee, who hast not lost",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thy hand or foot, but all which made up man;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So will it be, until the joyous day",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of resurrection, when thou wilt regain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All thou hast lost, new-made and glorified.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How, even now, the consummated Saints",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "See God in heaven, I may not explicate.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Meanwhile let it suffice thee to possess",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Such means of converse as are granted thee,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though, till that Beatific Vision thou art blind;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For e’en thy purgatory, which comes like fire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is fire without its light.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "His will be done!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I am not worthy e’er to see again",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The face of day; far less His countenance",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who is the very sun. Nathless, in life,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When I looked forward to my purgatory,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It ever was my solace to believe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That, ere I plunged amid th’ avenging flame,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I had one sight of Him to strengthen me.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Nor rash nor vain is that presentiment;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yes⁠—for one moment thou shalt see thy Lord.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thus will it be: what time thou art arraigned",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Before the dread tribunal, and thy lot",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is cast for ever, should it be to sit",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On His right hand among His pure elect,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then sight, or that which to the soul is sight,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As by a lightning-flash, will come to thee,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And thou shalt see, amid the dark profound,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whom thy soul loveth, and would fain approach⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "One moment; but thou knowest not, my child,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What thou dost ask: that sight of the Most Fair",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Will gladden thee, but it will pierce thee too.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Thou speakest darkly, Angel! and an awe",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Falls on me, and a fear lest I be rash.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "There was a mortal, who is now above",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the mid glory: he, when near to die,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was given communion with the Crucified⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Such, that the Master’s very wounds were stamped",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon his flesh; and, from the agony",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which thrilled through body and soul in that embrace",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Learn that the flame of the Everlasting Love",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Doth burn ere it transform.⁠ ⁠…",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "… Hark to those sounds!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They come of tender beings angelical,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Least and most childlike of the sons of God.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Praise to the Holiest in the height,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And in the depth be praise:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In all His words most wonderful;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Most sure in all His ways!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "To us His elder race He gave",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To battle and to win,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Without the chastisement of pain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Without the soil of sin.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The younger son He willed to be",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A marvel in his birth:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Spirit and flesh his parents were;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His home was heaven and earth.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The Eternal blessed His child, and armed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And sent him hence afar,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To serve as champion in the field",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of elemental war.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "To be His Viceroy in the world",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of matter, and of sense;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon the frontier, towards the foe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A resolute defence.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "We now have passed the gate, and are within",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The House of Judgment; and whereas on earth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Temples and palaces are formed of parts",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Costly and rare, but all material,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So in the world of spirits nought is found,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To mould withal and form into a whole,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But what is immaterial; and thus",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The smallest portions of this edifice,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Cornice, or frieze, or balustrade, or stair,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The very pavement is made up of life⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of holy, blessed, and immortal beings,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who hymn their Maker’s praise continually.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Praise to the Holiest in the height,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And in the depth be praise:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In all His words most wonderful;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Most sure in all His ways!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Woe to thee, man! for he was found",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A recreant in the fight;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And lost his heritage of heaven,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And fellowship with light.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Above him now the angry sky,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Around the tempest’s din;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Who once had angels for his friends,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had but the brutes for kin.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O man! a savage kindred they;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To flee that monster brood",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He scaled the seaside cave, and clomb",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The giants of the wood.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "With now a fear, and now a hope,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With aids which chance supplied,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "From youth to eld, from sire to son,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He lived, and toiled, and died.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He dreed his penance age by age;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And step by step began",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Slowly to doff his savage garb,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And be again a man.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And quickened by the Almighty’s breath,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And chastened by His rod,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And taught by Angel-visitings,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At length he sought his God:",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And learned to call upon His name,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And in His faith create",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A household and a fatherland,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A city and a state.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Glory to Him who from the mire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In patient length of days,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Elaborated into life",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A people to His praise!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The sound is like the rushing of the wind⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Summer wind among the lofty pines;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Swelling and dying, echoing round about,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Now here, now distant, wild and beautiful;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While, scattered from the branches it has stirred,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Descend ecstatic odours.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Praise to the Holiest in the height,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And in the depth be praise:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In all His words most wonderful;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Most sure in all His ways!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The Angels, as beseemingly",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To spirit-kind was given,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "At once were tried and perfected,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And took their seats in heaven.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For them no twilight or eclipse;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No growth and no decay:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "’Twas hopeless, all-engulfing night,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or beatific day.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But to the younger race there rose",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A hope upon its fall;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And slowly, surely, gracefully,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The morning dawned on all.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And ages, opening out, divide",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The precious and the base,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And from the hard and sullen mass,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mature the heirs of grace.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O man! albeit the quickening ray,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lit from his second birth,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Makes him at length what once he was,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And heaven grows out of earth;",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Yet still between that earth and heaven⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His journey and his goal⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A double agony awaits",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His body and his soul.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "A double debt he has to pay⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The forfeit of his sins,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The chill of death is past, and now",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The penance-fire begins.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Glory to Him, who evermore",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By truth and justice reigns;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Who tears the soul from out its case,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And burns away its stains!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "They sing of thy approaching agony,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which thou so eagerly didst question of:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It is the face of the Incarnate God",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shall smite thee with that keen and subtle pain;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And yet the memory which it leaves will be",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A sovereign febrifuge to heal the wound;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And yet withal it will the wound provoke,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And aggravate and widen it the more.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Thou speakest mysteries; still methinks I know",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To disengage the tangle of thy words:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet rather would I hear thy angel voice,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Than for myself be thy interpreter.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "When then⁠—if such thy lot⁠—thou seest thy Judge,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The sight of Him will kindle in thy heart,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All tender, gracious, reverential thoughts.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thou wilt be sick with love, and yearn for Him,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And feel as though thou couldst but pity Him,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That one so sweet should e’er have placed Himself",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At disadvantage such, as to be used",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So vilely by a being so vile as thee.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There is a pleading in His pensive eyes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Will pierce thee to the quick, and trouble thee.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And thou wilt hate and loathe thyself; for, though",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Now sinless, thou wilt feel that thou hast sinned,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As never thou didst feel; and wilt desire",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To slink away, and hide thee from His sight",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And yet wilt have a longing aye to dwell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Within the beauty of His countenance.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And these two pains, so counter and so keen⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The longing for Him, when thou seest Him not;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The shame of self at thought of seeing Him⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Will be thy veriest, sharpest purgatory.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "My soul is in my hand: I have no fear⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In His dear might prepared for weal or woe.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But hark! a grand mysterious harmony:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It floods me, like the deep and solemn sound",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of many waters.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "We have gained the stairs",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "Which rise towards the Presence-chamber; there",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A band of mighty Angels keep the way",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On either side, and hymn the Incarnate God.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Father, whose goodness none can know, but they",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who see Thee face to face,",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "By man hath come the infinite display",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Thy victorious grace;",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "But fallen man⁠—the creature of a day⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Skills not that love to trace.",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "It needs, to tell the triumph Thou hast wrought,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An Angel’s deathless fire, an Angel’s reach of thought.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "It needs that very Angel, who with awe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Amid the garden shade,",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "The great Creator in His sickness saw,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Soothed by a creature’s aid,",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "And agonised, as victim of the Law",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which He Himself had made;",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "For who can praise Him in His depth and height,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But he who saw Him reel amid that solitary fight?",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Hark! for the lintels of the presence-gate",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are vibrating and echoing back the strain.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Praise to the Holiest in the height,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And in the depth be praise:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In all His words most wonderful;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Most sure in all His ways!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The foe blasphemed the Holy Lord,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As if He reckoned ill,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In that He placed His puppet man",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The frontier place to fill.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For even in his best estate,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With amplest gifts endued,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A sorry sentinel was he,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A being of flesh and blood.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "As though a thing, who for his help",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Must needs possess a wife,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Could cope with those proud rebel hosts,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who had angelic life.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And when, by blandishment of Eve,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That earth-born Adam fell,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He shrieked in triumph, and he cried,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“A sorry sentinel;",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The Maker by His word is bound,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Escape or cure is none;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He must abandon to his doom,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And slay His darling son.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And now the threshold, as we traverse it,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Utters aloud its glad responsive chant.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Praise to the Holiest in the height,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And in the depth be praise:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In all His words most wonderful;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Most sure in all His ways!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O loving wisdom of our God!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When all was sin and shame,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A second Adam to the fight",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And to the rescue came.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O wisest love! that flesh and blood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which did in Adam fail,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Should strive afresh against the foe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Should strive and should prevail;",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And that a higher gift than grace",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Should flesh and blood refine,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "God’s Presence and His very Self,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Essence all divine.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O generous love! that He who smote",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In man for man the foe,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The double agony in man",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For man should undergo;",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And in the garden secretly,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And on the cross on high,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Should teach His brethren and inspire",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To suffer and to die.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Thy judgment now is near, for we are come",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into the veiled presence of our God.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I hear the voices that I left on earth.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "It is the voice of friends around thy bed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who say the “Subvenite” with the priest.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hither the echoes come; before the Throne",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Stands the great Angel of the Agony,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The same who strengthened Him, what time He knelt",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lone in the garden shade, bedewed with blood.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That Angel best can plead with Him for all",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Tormented souls, the dying and the dead.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Jesu! by that shuddering dread which fell on Thee;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Jesu! by that cold dismay which sickened Thee;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Jesu! by that pang of heart which thrilled in Thee;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Jesu! by that mount of sins which crippled Thee;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Jesu! by that sense of guilt which stifled Thee;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Jesu! by that innocence which girdled Thee;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Jesu! by that sanctity which reigned in Thee;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Jesu! by that Godhead which was one with Thee;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Jesu! spare these souls which are so dear to Thee,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who in prison, calm and patient, wait for Thee;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hasten, Lord, their hour, and bid them come to Thee,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To that glorious Home, where they shall ever gaze on Thee.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I go before my Judge. Ah!⁠ ⁠…",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "… Praise to His Name!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The eager spirit has darted from my hold,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And, with the intemperate energy of love,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Flies to the dear feet of Emmanuel;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But, ere it reach them, the keen sanctity,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which with its effluence, like a glory, clothes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And circles round the Crucified, has seized,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And scorched, and shrivelled it; and now it lies",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Passive and still before the awful Throne.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O happy, suffering soul! for it is safe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Consumed, yet quickened, by the glance of God.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Take me away, and in the lowest deep",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There let me be,",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "And there in hope the lone night-watches keep,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Told out for me.",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "There, motionless and happy in my pain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lone, not forlorn⁠—",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "There will I sing my sad perpetual strain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Until the morn.",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "There will I sing, and soothe my stricken breast,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which ne’er can cease",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "To throb, and pine, and languish, till possest",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of its Sole Peace.",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "There will I sing my absent Lord and Love:⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Take me away,",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "That sooner I may rise, and go above,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And see Him in the truth of everlasting day.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Now let the golden prison ope its gates,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Making sweet music, as each fold revolves",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon its ready hinge. And ye great powers,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Angels of Purgatory, receive from me",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My charge, a precious soul, until the day,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When, from all bond and forfeiture released,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I shall reclaim it for the courts of light.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Softly and gently, dearly-ransomed soul,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In my most loving arms I now enfold thee,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And, o’er the penal waters, as they roll,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I poise thee, and I lower thee, and hold thee.",
    "indent": 2
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And carefully I dip thee in the lake,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And thou, without a sob or a resistance,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Dost through the flood thy rapid passage take,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sinking deep, deeper into the dim distance.",
    "indent": 2
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Angels, to whom the willing task is given,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shall tend, and nurse, and lull thee, as thou liest;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And Masses on the earth, and prayers in heaven,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shall aid thee at the Throne of the Most Highest.",
    "indent": 2
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Farewell, but not for ever! brother dear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Be brave and patient on thy bed of sorrow;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Swiftly shall pass thy night of trial here,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And I will come and wake thee on the morrow.",
    "indent": 2
   }
  ]
 ]
}