<h2><SPAN name="page72"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>ART THOU ALIVE?</h2>
<p class="poetry">Art thou alive? Nay, not too soon
reply,<br/>
Tho’ hand, and foot, and lip, and ear, and eye,<br/>
Respond, and do thy bidding yet may be<br/>
Grim death has done his direst work with thee.<br/>
Life, as God gives it, is a thing apart<br/>
From active body and from beating heart.<br/>
It is the vital spark, the unseen fire,<br/>
That moves the mind to reason and aspire;<br/>
It is the force that bids emotion roll,<br/>
In mighty billows from the surging soul.</p>
<p class="poetry">It is the light that grows from hour to
hour,<br/>
And floods the brain with consciousness of power;<br/>
It is the spirit dominating all,<br/>
And reaching God with its imperious call,<br/>
Until the shining glory of His face<br/>
Illuminates each sorrowful, dark place;</p>
<p class="poetry"><SPAN name="page73"></SPAN><span class="pagenum">p.
73</span>It is the truth that sets the bondsman free,<br/>
Knowing he will be what he wills to be.<br/>
With its unburied dead the earth is sad.<br/>
Art thou alive? proclaim it and be glad.<br/>
Perchance the dead may hear thee and arise,<br/>
Knowing they live, and <i>here</i> is Paradise.</p>
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