Poems (Holley)/The Fairest Land
THE FAIREST LAND.
'Twas a bleak dull moor that stretched beforeThe low stone porch of the cottage door,And standing there was a youth and maid,He for long journeying seemed arrayed,And the sunset flamed in the burnished west,And a proud throb beat in the young man's breast,As he whispered, "Sweet, will you come to meIn that fairer land beyond the sea?"
"The wonderful western land; in dreamsI have seen its prairies green, and gleamsOf its shining waterfalls, valleys fair,And a voice in my dreams has called me thereWhere man is a man, and not a clod,And must bend the knee to none but God.A home will I make for thee and meIn that fairer land beyond the sea."
"But the cruel sea where the fated shipsGo down to their doom"—But he kissed the lips—The trembling lips, till they smiled again,And his bright hopes cheered her heart's dull pain, And she laid her head on his hopeful breast,And looked with him to the glowing west,And said, "I will come, I will come to theeTo that fairer land beyond the sea."
And the crimson light changed to daffodil—To ashen gray, but they stood there still,And high o'er the west shone the evening starAs still he pictured that home afar—"The peace and the bliss our own at lastWhen this dreary parting all is past,When my heart's dear love, you come to meIn that fairer land beyond the sea."
So he sailed; but saddest 'tis alwayNot for those who go, but for those who stay;And her sweet eyes gathered a shadow dimAs days went by with no news of him,And weeks and months, but at last it came,As the gray moor shone with the sunset flameHer quick eyes glanced the strange lines o'er,Then she fell like dead on the cottage floor.
'Twas a stranded ship on a rocky coast,One true heart brave, when hope was lost,How he toiled till all the shore had gained,And only a baby form remained On ship, how he breasted the surging tideWith Death a-wrestling side by side,How he lifted the child to its mother's knee,As a great wave washed him out to sea.
And for days the maid in the cottage doorSat and looked o'er the dreary moor,Her cheeks grew white 'neath her blinding tears,And the sunset rays seemed cruel spearsThat pierced her heart; and ashen grayTurned the earth and sky, the night, the day;But at last a star shone high above—The tender star of the heavenly love.
For as her life ebbed day by day,The High Countrie, the Fair alway,Rose 'fore her eyes, the safe, sweet home,And she seemed to hear, "Love, will you come?"And so one eve when a bridge of goldSeemed spanning the last sea dim and cold,She went to him, for aye to beIn the Fairest land beyond the sea.