Outside the Gates

So sick and dead - not in a trance,
nor by bad luck, nor by perchance.
With dying souls, our God awaits
before our graves outside the gates.

With rugged, jagged timbers crossed,
God's providence came with a cost -
where innocence had met pure guilt
through grace and love when blood was spilt.

And then, BEHOLD, I saw His skies,
for Christ had opened up my eyes
outside the gates with spirit dead,
where I met Christ and life instead.

With multitudes of people here -
the cries of mourning turned from tear -
for they had witnessed such a love
that they would long be speaking of...