Mimnermus in Church contrasts the warm delights of actual life with the cold joys of a merely promised heaven.
You say there is no substance here, One great reality above: Back from that void I shrink in fear, And child-like hide myself in love: Show me what angels feel.
You bid me lift my mean desires From faltering lips and fitful veins To sexless souls, ideal quires, Unwearied voices, wordless strains: My mind with fonder welcome owns One dear dead friend's remember'd tones.
Forsooth the present we must give To that which cannot pass away; All beauteous things for which we live By laws of time and space decay.
This poem was set to music (circa 1994) by the English songwriter and composer William D. Drake and performed by his psychedelic acoustic band, Lake Of Puppies.