Rejoice! Poem by John Lars Zwerenz

REJOICE!

I speak with a tongue from beyond the grave. Rejoice!
O, you of the mutilated bodies, be of good cheer.
You shall be granted gold for every tear,
And you shall sing hosannas with a cherub's voice.

O, bitter sufferings, where is thy sting,
After one has ascended to paradise?
After one has been tried in fire and ice,
One is crowned and wears a princely ring.

Once a slave to torment, a slave no more,
I walk in amber, sunlit fields
With God and my love where daylight yields
An oceanic ecstasy which rejoices upon the Elysian shore.
And the vistas here reflect no pain,
For within only joy and rapture doth reign!