Page:Over the river, and other poems.djvu/42

36 Beautiful city, bright home of the blessed! When shall I stand by thy crystalline sea? Earth's joys are sweet, but they lure me from duty; Earth-loves are strong, but they bind like a chain! Sometimes my heart clings to life and earth's beauty With a wild yearning that grows into pain; And I forget the- bright glories that wait me Over the river on heaven's happy plain. There bloom the flowers that wither, ah never! There live -the loved ones who've passed from my sight; There ring the anthems that sound on forever; There walk the saints in their garments of white;