Poems (Emma M. Ballard Bell)/The Song-Land
THE SONG-LAND.
O lovely and ideal realm of thought!O land of poet-dreams! how soft the airsThat o'er thy valleys and thy mountains blow!And bright thy bow'rs and fountains sparkling clear,And flow'rs of brilliant hues bedeck thee o'er.A noble being over thee presides:The goddess fair of mountain, vale, and fount.Majestic, and yet gentle, is her mien.A diadem of light rests on her brow,And golden sunbeams gleam amid her hair,And all her soul doth speak its language clearFrom out the glances of her beaming eye.The sweet inspirer of high thought is she,And Inspiration is the goddess' name.
O lovely and entrancing land of song!So sacred unto all that's pure and bright,The lights and shadows that upon thee fallBefore my mental vision e'er appear.I love thy hills and vales, thy founts and bow'rs;But, oh! I love thy tow'ring mountains more,Where echoings immortal ever ring, 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.