Summary of the poem
Behold the Gift Unconquered: The Triumphant Beauty of Salvation Where Endless Glories Keep

The sonnet opens by confronting the grim reality of humanity’s fallen state: the grave’s insatiable hunger, death’s dominion, and the curse of sin that held every person in bondage and defeat.

The dramatic turn comes with Christ’s resurrection—“O thunderclap of dawn!”—portrayed as the decisive, thunderous victory. Crowned with His own scars, Christ shatters death’s gates, tears the temple veil, and transforms utter defeat into everlasting light.

The poem then exults in the nature of the gift itself: salvation is not a partial or tentative pardon, but complete and unconquerable dominion. It clothes the believer in an imperishable robe of righteousness and places upon them an unbreakable crown—images of beauty, security, and royal splendor that no decay or enemy can touch.

The closing couplet acknowledges the universal fact of physical death (“Though every flesh must die, though all must sleep”), yet immediately triumphs over it. For those redeemed by Christ, death is merely a gentle sleep, and the true outcome is glorious gain: entrance into heaven, where “endless glories keep” forever.

In essence, the sonnet is a victorious celebration of salvation as Christ’s ultimate, radiant gift—conquering sin and death, remaking the believer in imperishable beauty, and securing for the redeemed an eternal, triumphant home in heaven’s unending glory.

What though the grave once yawned with hungry jaw,
And death’s black banner waved o’er every field?
What though the curse had written every law
In blood and bondage, making all men yield?
Yet Christ arose—O thunderclap of dawn!—
The Victor crowned with scars that shame the night;
He broke the gates, He tore the veil withdrawn,
And turned defeat to everlasting light.

Behold the gift: not pardon half-bestowed,
But full dominion, beauty without end—
A robe of righteousness no moth can erode,
A crown no tyrant’s hand can ever bend.
Though every flesh must die, though all must sleep,
Heaven is gained—where endless glories keep.