There lives a voice within me, a guest-angel of my heart,
And its sweet lispings win me, till the tears a-trembling start;
Up evermore it springeth, like some magic melody,
And evermore it singeth this sweet song of songs to me-
This world is full of beauty, as other worlds above;
And, if we did our duty, it might be full of love.

Night's starry tenderness dower with glory evermore,
Morn's budding, bright, melodious hour comes sweetly as of yore;
But there be million hearts accursed, where no sweet sunbursts shine,
And there be million hearts athirst for Love's immortal wine.
This world is full of beauty, as other worlds above;
And, if we did our duty, it might be full of love.

If faith, and hope, and kindness pass'd, as coin, 'twixt heart and heart;
How, thro' the eye's tear-blindness, should the sudden soul upstart!
The dreary, dim, and desolate, should wear a sunny bloom,
And Love should spring from buried Hate, like flowers o'er Winter's tomb.
This world is full of beauty, as other worlds above;
And, if we did our duty, it might be full of love.

Were truth our uttered language, Angels might talk with men,
And God-illumined earth should see the golden Age again;
The burden'd heart should soar in mirth like Morn's young prophet-lark,
And Misery's last tear wept on earth, quench Hell's last cunning spark.
For this world is full of beauty, as other worlds above;
And, if we did our duty, it might be full of love.

Lo! plenty ripens round us, yet awakes the cry for bread,
The millions still are toiling, crushed, and clad in rags, unfed!
While sunny hills and valleys richly blush with fruit and grain,
But the paupers in the palace rob their toiling fellow-men.
This world is full of beauty, as other worlds above;
And, if we did our duty, it might be full of love.

Dear God! what hosts are trampled 'mid this killing crush for gold!
What noble hearts are sapp'd of love! what spirits lose life's hold!
Yet a merry world it might be, opulent for all, and aye,
With its lands that ask for labor, and its wealth that wastes away.
This world is full of beauty, as other worlds above;
And, if we did our duty, it might be full of love.

The leaf-tongues of the forest, and the flow'r-lips of the sod-
The happy Birds that hymn their raptures in the ear of God-
The summer wind that bringeth music over land and sea,
Have each a voice that singeth this sweet song of songs to me-
This world is full of beauty, as other worlds above;
And, if we did our duty, it might be full of love.