immortality (n.)
Where music dwells
Lingering and wandering on as loth to die,
Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof
That they were born for immortality.
He ne'er is crown'd
With immortality, who fears to follow
Where airy voices lead.
It must be so,—Plato, thou reasonest well!
Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,
This longing after immortality?
Or whence this secret dread and inward horror
Of falling into naught? Why shrinks the soul
Back on herself, and startles at destruction?
'T is the divinity that stirs within us;
'T is Heaven itself that points out an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man.
Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought!
They eat, they drink, and in communion sweet
Quaff immortality and joy.
'T is immortality to die aspiring,
As if a man were taken quick to heaven.
