Classic Poem

For ever ours,
The good and great of all the ages past;
The Father's children gather'd home at last;
Oh wealth, unutterable wealth of love,
All ours above.

For ever ours,
The noblest and the best of every land,
Innumerable as the silver sand
Of ocean, or the dust of stars that gem
Night's diadem.

For ever ours,
Pilgrims and patriarchs and kings and seers,
Whose forms loom dimly through the mist of years;
Apostles, martyrs, and evangelists,
All who are Christ's.

For ever ours,
The lowliest who the purest crowns have won
And sit the nearest Jesus on His throne,
And love Him most for most has been forgiven;
The peers of heaven.

For ever ours,
The children by their angel guards caress'd;
And all the myriad myriads of the blest;
Each heart a crystal well-spring of delight,
All clothed in white.

For ever ours;
What eye can range the limitless expanse,
Or bear the blaze of love's inheritance?
Ours: — Christ is ours: Oh, miracle of bliss!
And we are His.