For Those We Love Within the Veil

For those we love within the veil,
who once were comrades of our way,
we thank thee, Lord; for they have won
to cloudless day.

Free from the fret of mortal years,
and knowing now thy perfect will,
with quickened sense and heightened joy
they serve thee still.

O fuller, sweeter is that life,
and larger, ampler is the air:
eye cannot see nor heart conceive
the glory there;

nor know to what high purpose thou
dost yet employ their ripened powers,
nor how at Thy behest they touch
this life of ours.

And life for them is life indeed,
the splendid goal of earth’s strait race;
and where no shadows intervene
they see thy face.