Poems (Emma M. Ballard Bell)/The Orphan's Vision
THE ORPHAN'S VISION.
'Twas in a far-off land, where summer showersIts smiles of beaming light on all aroundThrough many months of each returning year;Where flowers of brilliant hues and lofty mienLift up their beauteous heads to catch the gleamsFrom tropic skies, and where the waving fernsGrow almost as luxuriant as didTheir sister tribes of paleozoic time. In one fair, peaceful vale, where all day longThe birds had warbled and the breezes played,A solemn silence seemed to reign o'er all.And well it might: the messenger of DeathWas waiting near, a human soul to bearFrom all the busy scenes of this fair earthTo far and untried spirit-realms beyond. Yes, in that hour a dying mother lookedAffection's last look on an only child,A maiden young and fair, although her faceThe trace of anguish and deep sorrow bore,And soon she, too, must know the lonely griefsOf orphanhood. Three weeks had scarcely passedSince in its narrow resting-place was laid Her father's form, beneath a foreign soil,With foreign blossoms o'er his tomb to wave.For they were wanderers in that sunny land;Their own sweet home lay far across the seas. The last sad moment came; the mother claspedThe maiden's hand within her own so cold,And gazed upon her with a look whose deep,Deep meaning none might understand save her,So long the object of that mother's love. Her spirit gently winged its flight to heaven;And when o'er earth another bright day dawned,The maiden stood beside her mother's grave.She lingered there awhile, then turned away,A lonely orphan in a stranger's land. Yet were the faces kind that on her gazed,And kindly voices fell upon her ear,And gentle hands brought gifts of lovely flowers,And curious sea-shells from the ocean shore;And voices, sweet with richest melodyOf sound, and in true soul of music, sangIn glowing strains of their own land of flowers,Yet could not lift the shadows from her soul. And then was sent a message o'er the seasTo friends who knew her in her childhood days,Who came and bore her to her native land.And while her soul was wrapt in grief's dark pall,She oft would muse upon the lessons taught By her own mother while on earth she lived.Who sought upon her young mind to impressThe truth that God doth see and know all things,And that she might be blest by Him, to live,Avoiding wrong in thought, or word, or deed. One night, when all her soul had poured its tideOf grief in solitude through many hours,And when the holy angel, Sleep, had seen,With pitying gaze, her tears, and softly closedHer weary eyes, and soothed her to repose,Upon her soul a glorious vision burst. The clouds and mists which hovered o'er this worldBy angel hands were parted; and she throughA cloudless track of ether winged her way.Around her, planets in their orbits rolled,Though at a mighty distance. She beheld,Far off, the firmaments of many orbs,Resplendent with their constellations bright,Illumed by moons, some of the circular,And some of gibbous, and of crescent form;And, at the same time, in some heavens shoneA shape of each, and from the same bright sky;And comets, too, flamed through the vast expanse.And sometimes so o'erpowering was the lightThat on her shone from burning suns and stars,She could not see her spirit-guides; but whenFor her they waved their hands, the golden light In circles moved, and whither thus she knewTo bend her way. At last the light aroundMore spiritual seemed; and she beheld,Through its transparent rays, bright seraph forms,And seraph faces on her looked and smiled.And there, with spirit-glances on her bent,From eyes which inspiration deep had litWith the intense effulgence of its rays,Her own eyes beamed with an unearthly light. And there was one whose clear and joyous gazeWith light familiar beamed. It was not longUntil the child the mother knew, and thenThey met as friends who lived and loved on earthMay meet where earthly woes are known no more.The air around with melody was filled;And then the mother said, "Thou must returnTo earth awhile. Go forth into the worldWhere'er our Father and his angels guide;And whomsoe'er thou meet'st, if thou mayst readThe deep inworkings of a noble soulIn search of truth, and all the grand, the good,The beautiful in life, then know that thereA brother or a sister thou hast found.Then keep thy own soul pure, and from its shrineLet sweet affection's holy incense rise.So shalt thou win the love of human hearts,And friendships form for earth-life not alone, But which shall grow mature in spheres above,Where love's bright eye is never dimmed with tears." Thus did the mother to the maiden speak,Then in her arms enfolded her, as sheWas wont to do when the unconscious smileOf infancy played on her lips, and onHer brow she pressed one holy kiss. O earth!Hast thou a measure for the wondrous depth,The tender purity, of mother-love? The vision vanished, and the orphan wokeAgain to consciousness of earthly things,But with the memory of that night impressedToo deeply on her soul to be effaced.And to her soul's eye ever from this timeAll earthly things were changed, and nature seemedIllumed with rays divine; the breezes mildBrought whisperings of heaven; and e'en the flowersThat bloomed so humbly in the wayside pathSeemed placed there by some wise directing hand.She gazed upon the mountains towering high,And on their brows she read—sublimity.She loved the grandeur of the midnight skies,The smiling beauty of the crimson morn.She thought upon the world within—the mind,With all its noble, its God-given powersOf fancy, reason, thought, more wondrous farThan all the vast material universe, Though reaching far out in infinity,—Then humbly said, with an uplifted eye,"I praise Thee, O thou Ruler over all!"The page of science now possessed new charms,And over volumes stored with glowing thoughtsShe oft would linger long. New energiesWere roused within her soul, and wheresoe'erThrough all the years of life on earth she roamed,She sought to bless mankind; and many onesWould praise with gratitude her bounteous hand. But not alone is sorrow found where wantAnd poverty and sickness come, for earthHath many who have never known what 'tisTo suffer these stern ills of life, yet bowedBeneath the weight of other griefs and cares.And such of these as came within her sphere,With delicate and tender sympathyShe sought to soothe; for, oh! so well she knew,Should mountains crumble and the hills remove,And though the planetary orbs should ceaseTo roll in their elliptic paths, one word,One look of kindness, will forever live.