A DREAM OF LIFE.
I had a dream of Life's great glory; And, marshalled in a phalanx deep,Heroes, and statesmen, great in story, I viewed, held by the Goddess Sleep;Methought, great bard, and painter lent, Their glorious presence to the throng;And one, who charmed with music only, Did wake my dull ear with his song.
And circled with the wreath of glory, Bright laurels stained with human gore,The soldier's brow, blood-red before me, One moment gleamed, there past forever moreAnd one, the statesman, he who lifted, High in the face of Heaven the cry,For human Right, and glorious Honor, Who crowned our land with Liberty:
Stood towering high, in noble grandeur, His great brow lit with Heaven's own fire,Till neath the crumbling dust of ages, He fell, 'neath Time's great funeral pyre.
