Henry Alford

August 22, 1830

Oh! when shall this frail tenement of clay Be emptied by Death's peremptory call, And its celestial guest be fetched away, From mortal tenure and corporeal thrall, A beam, to mingle with the flood of day, A part to join unto the glorious All? -- When shall the kingly intellect have fled From this his dull material servitude, And Thought exalt her long--abasèd head, With pomp of heavenly majesty endued? And when shall the affection, here below Broken by parting in its stream of light, Dash off the earthly vestiture of woe, And shine, with everlasting radiance bright?