Back to Music & Poetry

Writings of Allen H. Richardson

Empyrean Dawn

O blessed morn, dawn of eternity!
To be called up by beckoning angels,
To be escorted along the magnificent causeway
Toward the Palatial mansion!
Through pastoral fields with wooded meadows,
Sparkling springs and bubbling fountains,
Passing guardians and sentinels along the way.
What honor that the massive gates of heaven
Would draw back at my approach!
What privilege to ascend the grand steps
Toward the majestic portal!
To be allowed into hallowed chambers!
To hear the sweet, ineffable resonance
Of the tender voices of myriads of angels
Reverberating their sacred anthems
Throughout the dimensions
Of a thousand alcoves.
What grace that the seraphim
Would bow at my approach
And point toward the holy vestibule,
Beyond the veiled threshold,
Through the sacred corridor,
Lined with towering columns and lofty pillars!
How humbling to be ushered into royal courts,
Meant only to be tread by kings and princes,
To behold through shimmering brilliance,
Without being utterly consumed,
The very Personifications of Mercy,
How marvelous, how wondrous,
To feel to shrink and perish at the memory of sin,
Yet to be instantly cleansed of such--
Forgiven and forgotten!
Purified as by fire--born anew--
To collapse with gratitude
At the feet of my Father and Mother,
To be lifted into Their arms,
To hear Them utter my name,
Presenting me to my Brother, my Savior.
For a sweet, glorious, supernal embrace
Of Approval and of Acceptance,
To live with them and with my loved ones
In everlasting joy
For all eternity.

                                                                                  Back to Music & Poetry