He softly said, then paling, faltered,
As one who with the unseen paltered;
For, as when vapors black and gray
From lilied dawn are swept away,
A filmy curtain seemed to fade
From mind and soul, and in those eyes,
Lustrous with mighty destinies
And flames of life, unfixed, unmade,
He saw the wondrous Future rise;—
Swiftly in panoramic view,
The old times were displaced by new:
The crested firs went down like knights
Lance-struck in ringing olden fights,
And all the century-furrowed land,
The church, the school, the court, the mart,
Temples of pleasure, toil and art,
With glimmering spires and gleaming domes,
Were set in landscape bright with homes—
He saw the swarm of men like bees,
The building of the pillared quays,
The lordly ships with canvas furled,
From seas that roll around the world,
The thronging river craft that broke
The lucid wave in spray and smoke;
And from converging ways, strange steeds,
With trailing plumes and shining mail,
Flying in answer to the hail
Of wider action, swifter needs ;
He saw a city throned and shining,
And fairer than his best divining
In any roseate revery—
As one who with the unseen paltered;
For, as when vapors black and gray
From lilied dawn are swept away,
A filmy curtain seemed to fade
From mind and soul, and in those eyes,
Lustrous with mighty destinies
And flames of life, unfixed, unmade,
He saw the wondrous Future rise;—
Swiftly in panoramic view,
The old times were displaced by new:
The crested firs went down like knights
Lance-struck in ringing olden fights,
And all the century-furrowed land,
The church, the school, the court, the mart,
Temples of pleasure, toil and art,
With glimmering spires and gleaming domes,
Were set in landscape bright with homes—
He saw the swarm of men like bees,
The building of the pillared quays,
The lordly ships with canvas furled,
From seas that roll around the world,
The thronging river craft that broke
The lucid wave in spray and smoke;
And from converging ways, strange steeds,
With trailing plumes and shining mail,
Flying in answer to the hail
Of wider action, swifter needs ;
He saw a city throned and shining,
And fairer than his best divining
In any roseate revery—
