The Better Land.
I sat one night in a lighted hall,1
In the lonely midst of a silent crowd,2
And I heard a beautiful ballad fall,3
Like the lark’s sweet song from a sunlit cloud.4
Close at my side sat one whose hand5
Has a greater power than a king of old ;6
And the singer sang of the better land,7
And the streets of gold.8
She said that the flowers ne’er ceased to bloom,9
That could not grow in this world of ours ;10
That songs too sweet for the days of gloom11
Filled all the length of those brighter hours ;12
That pleasures no mortal heart had known,13
In infinite numbers gathered there ;14
That sorrow forgot to make her moan,15
And Hope her prayer.16
And I drank, with a soul athirst, each word,17
And the words as they fell were filled with rest ;18
’Twas only a song I had often heard,19
Yet it grew like a psalm within my breast.20
For I saw the sweet face quivering near,21
I heard the tender, pitiful sigh,22
And I said in my heart, “ That land is here,23
And very nigh.”24
What made that beautiful realm so fair,25
And lit the gleam of its golden hours ?26
’Twas the glory of love outshining there,27
And kissing the lips of buds and flowers.28
Love was the wonderful power for good,29
That banished the gloom of grief and care ;—30
And love was the form that woke, and stood31
Between us there.32
So I knew that the better land begins33
Here, in the saddening cares of earth ;34
That even from out our tears and sins35
The endless City of Rest has birth.36
And a fuller light to my soul was given,37
An angel touched me from above,38
For I learnt that night that Love is Heaven,39
And Heaven is Love.40