Henry Ward Beecher Poems | Examples

Deathbed Poetry - Henry Ward Beecher

The quote, "Now comes the mystery," 
American clergyman and social reformer 
Henry Ward Beecher, 1813-1887.
"His final words reflect a philosophical and contemplative
 attitude toward death and the afterlife.”  Google


His deathbed holds the endless mystery 
of where or what will truly happen next; 
not what he'd learned from books or history 
or what he taught at church as sacred text.
But from his deepest feeling there within, 
he knew that death is not the simple end.
And so, his hopeful soul stayed clear of sin; 
God's power, love, and mercy did defend. 

Surely, he knew that Heaven was his goal-
perhaps imagined it a certain way; 
But as a preacher, it is quite a toll 
to understand what's real beyond his stay. 
He knew the sacred mystery death holds-
but not the where or when of victory.
But at that last-breath moment, it unfolds;
his deathbed quote, “Now comes the mystery,”