Thoughts

By sound of name, and touch of hand,      Thro' ears that hear, and eyes that see,     We know each other in this land,      How little must that knowledge be?     How souls are all the time alone,      No spirit can another reach;     They hide away in realms unknown,      Like waves that never touch a beach.     We never know each other here,      No soul can here another see --     To know, we need a light as clear      As that which fills eternity.     For here we walk by human light,      But there the light of God is ours,     Each day, on earth, is but a night;      Heaven alone hath clear-faced hours.     I call you thus -- you call me thus --      Our mortal is the very bar     That parts forever each of us,      As skies, on high, part star from star.     A name is nothing but a name      For that which, else, would nameless be;     Until our souls, in rapture, claim      Full knowledge in eternity.