Relics of Saints
“He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; for all live unto Him.”
“The Fathers are in dust, yet live to God:”—
So says the Truth; as if the motionless clay
Still held the seeds of life beneath the sod,
Smouldering and struggling till the judgment-day.
And hence we learn with reverence to esteem
Of these frail houses, though the grave confines;
Sophist may urge his cunning tests, and deem
That they are earth;—but they are heavenly shrines.
Palermo. June 1, 1833.