Fallen Asleep

I did hear the other day,
A friend of ours had passed away,
No more to suffer pain or fear,
But at last to rest in peace down here.

We gathered together to pray and mourn,
To say our final farewell, forlorn.
To all of this he is unaware,
For he is fast asleep, without a care.

Jesus also slept, you know,
After dying on Calvary’s tree, here below.
He rose again and promised to me and you,
That if we sleep we would rise again too.

When He died, He did not go,
Straight to heaven, Oh no!
He slept in a tomb in the garden,
Till an angel said “Thy blood will pardon.”

All who have obeyed the Lord and sleep,
A glorious morning appointment He’ll keep.
When Christ shall shout and these dead arise,
to meet their Lord in the skies.

Then those left alive, at this end of time,
Shall join this joyous throng, and all chime,
“O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory?”

© S. Goeldner, 1999.

(Verses I used to write this poem are:-
Psalms 146:4; Job 14:12 & 21; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10;
Psalms 115:17; Psalms 6:5; 1 Thess 4:14; John 20:17;
1 Thess 4:16,17; 1 Cor 15:55)