Explore "Art Thou Alive?" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Art thou alive? Nay, not too soon reply, / Tho' hand, and foot, and lip, and ear, and eye, / Respond, and do thy bidding yet may be / Grim death has done his direst work with thee. / Life, as God gives it, is a thing apart / From active body and from beating heart. / It is the vital spark, the unseen fire, / That moves the mind to reason and aspire; / It is the force that bids emotion roll, / In mighty billows from the surging soul.
It is the light that grows from hour to hour, / And floods the brain with consciousness of power; / It is the spirit dominating all, / And reaching God with its imperious call, / Until the shining glory of His face / Illuminates each sorrowful, dark place;
It is the truth that sets the bondsman free, / Knowing he will be what he wills to be. / With its unburied dead the earth is sad. / Art thou alive? proclaim it and be glad. / Perchance the dead may hear thee and arise, / Knowing they live, and _here_ is Paradise.