Why should dreams so dark and dreary
Fill my thought?
Is there nought,
Nought to soothe and bless the weary?
Night may wrap the arch of heaven-
Soon a ray,
Bright with day,
Cheers the morn and gilds the even.
I have seen the mountain hidden
In a shroud-
Mist and cloud;
Say, was hope or joy forbidden?
No!-I knew its summit hoary
Soon would rise,
'Midst the skies,
Girt with green and crowned with glory.
Many a stream with song of gladness,
Many a rill,
Silent, still,
Winter binds in chains of sadness,-
Many a water-fall and river:-
Summer's wand
Breaks their band,
And their music ceases never.
Is the sun in heaven no longer,
When the rain
Sweeps the plain?
Soon he blazes brighter-stronger.
Is the flow'ret's sleep eternal,
When its cup,
Folded up,
Waits the smiles and breezes vernal?
Why should man, then-child of sorrow-
Mourn his doom?
Present gloom
Will be light and bliss to-morrow.
Why should man, then, bound his vision
To the cell
Where we dwell?
Worlds are his-and worlds elysian.
Even here all pain is fleeting;
Even here,
Joy and care
Join in constant, earnest greeting:
But where all our hopes are tending,
Peace and love
Reign above-
Bliss unbroken-joy unending.