In Memory: On the Threshold

It’s been a very painful week. Today, Friday, April 20, 2007, has been marked as a day of mourning for the 32 victims of the massacre at Virginia Tech. In memory, here is a poem by Horatius Bonar (1808-1889) called On the Threshold. I was trying to find some words that would be hopeful, encouraging, and perhaps reassuring to the grief-stricken left behind.

No expression can capture perfectly what each family member or friend is enduring, but I hope this poem is helpful. I know that many of those who were killed on Monday had a faith in Jesus Christ – they’ve passed the threshold to the throne of grace.

On the Threshold

I’m returning, not departing;
My steps are homeward bound,
I quit the land of strangers
For a home on native ground.

I am rising and not setting;
This is not night but day,
Not in darkness, but in sunshine,
Like a star, I fade away.

All is well with me for ever;
I do not fear to go,
My tide is but beginning
Its bright eternal flow.

I am leaving only shadows
For the true and fair and good,
I must not, cannot, linger;
I would not, though I could.

This is not death’s dark portal,
‘Tis life’s golden gate to me,
Link after link is broken,
And I at last am free.

I am going to the angels,
I am going to my God;
I know the hand that beckons,
I see the holy road.

Why grieve me with your weeping?
Your tears are all in vain,
An hour’s farewell, beloved,
And we shall meet again.

Jesus, Thou wilt receive me
And welcome me above;
This sunshine which now fills me
Is Thine own smile of love.

Horatius Bonar