Today the journey is ended,
I have worked out the mandates of fate;
Naked, alone, undefended,
I knock at the Uttermost Gate.
Behind is life and its longing,
Its trial, its trouble, its sorrow;
Beyond is the Infinite Morning
Of a day without a tomorrow.

Go back to dust and decay,
Body, grown weary and old;
You are worthless to me from today-
No longer my soul can you hold.
I lay you down gladly forever
For a life that is better than this;
I go where partings ne'er sever
You into oblivion's abyss.

Lo, the gate swings wide at my knocking,
Across endless reaches I see
Lost friends with laughter come flocking
To give a glad welcome to me.
Farewell, the maze has been threaded,
This is the ending of strife;
Say not that death should be dreaded-
'Tis but the beginning of life.

- Wenonah Stevens Abbott

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