THE SONG-LAND.
91
And where the heavens, lit with God's own smile,In love and peace bend o'er their summits grand.And there, too, Poesy her garlands twinesTo grace with beauty Science' noble brow.The Muses Science as a sister claim,And many off'rings unto her they bringIn token of their reverence and love.
Or how or whensoe'er to me were opedThy gates, O fair and wondrous land of song!This do I know; the paths and winding waysI to that entrance back can ne'er retrace.For fetters, light as if of ether made,Yet strong as if of iron texture wrought,Have cast their mystic links about my soulAnd bound it ever to the soul of Song.
May He who unto all a mission gives,Shield from the too rough blasts that sometimes sweepRelentless o'er the wilds of earth's dark land,And safely guide through life's meand'ring way,Till in the song-land of the realms above,All bright with poet-visions clearer farThan e'er to mental gaze on earth are giv'n,The soul shall sing in noblest strains to Him,Creator of the beautiful and bright.
