Page:The New Monthly Magazine - Volume 097.djvu/483



night, or early morn, the busy street

Was for a time deserted, and no sound,

Save the quick pattering of the rain that beat

Against the casement, and the wind around,

Sighing its dismal strains, broke the profound.

The solemn, gloomy stillness that seemed meet

To lead the wakeful spirit from this earth—

Where Death has marked all creatures from their birth—

Up to the contemplation of yon spheres

Unknown, unseen, and yet for ever near;

Where "the dark valley" passed—years—endless years,

Nay, ages but like moments, shall appear.

Oh! that "eternal shore,"

When Death shall be no more!

How widely differing from this mortal state,

Where we but draw our earliest breath,

To yield it up again in death,

Obedient to the unchanging laws of Fate!

'Twas night, and sleep had closed the weary eye,

And the dream-world its visionary gate

Had opened to my soul, and soaring high,

As if on angel-pinions borne aloft,

Methought I saw, above the azure sky.

As through a veil of silver light—so soft,

And so subdued, yet clear, transparent, bland—

Oh, view sublime!—it was the spirits' land!

Vainly would mortal thought try to portray

That heavenly scene—magnificent and grand.

No words of mortal language could convey

The slightest glimpse of that celestial home,

Where disembodied souls and angels roam

In bliss eternal; and the Godhead reigns

In majesty unspeakable, and might!

Methought around was shed a rosy light,—

And wafted to my ear, ecstatic strains

Came sweeping by,—while forms, radiant in love,

In dignity, and beauty, glorious—bright—

Seemed floating there (that angel-hymn remains

But faintly on my waking mind). Above,

Methought, I gazed in wonderment and awe,

And as I gazed, a cherub form I saw

Approach; his features were not strange to me.

Again—again I looked. Ah, yes!—'twas he

The cherub who was lent me for a space,

A short—short space on earth—yes! I could trace

The well-remembered features! To my side

He came. "This is the blessed morn," he said,