Poems (Emma M. Ballard Bell)/The Orphan's Vision
THE ORPHAN'S VISION.
'Twas in a far-off land, where summer showers
Its smiles of beaming light on all around
Through many months of each returning year;
Where flowers of brilliant hues and lofty mien
Lift up their beauteous heads to catch the gleams
From tropic skies, and where the waving ferns
Grow almost as luxuriant as did
Their sister tribes of paleozoic time.
In one fair, peaceful vale, where all day long
The birds had warbled and the breezes played,
A solemn silence seemed to reign o'er all.
And well it might: the messenger of Death
Was waiting near, a human soul to bear
From all the busy scenes of this fair earth
To far and untried spirit-realms beyond.
Yes, in that hour a dying mother looked
Affection's last look on an only child,
A maiden young and fair, although her face
The trace of anguish and deep sorrow bore,
And soon she, too, must know the lonely griefs
Of orphanhood. Three weeks had scarcely passed
Since in its narrow resting-place was laid
Her father's form, beneath a foreign soil,
With foreign blossoms o'er his tomb to wave.
For they were wanderers in that sunny land;
Their own sweet home lay far across the seas.
The last sad moment came; the mother clasped
The maiden's hand within her own so cold,
And gazed upon her with a look whose deep,
Deep meaning none might understand save her,
So long the object of that mother's love.
Her spirit gently winged its flight to heaven;
And when o'er earth another bright day dawned,
The maiden stood beside her mother's grave.
She lingered there awhile, then turned away,
A lonely orphan in a stranger's land.
Yet were the faces kind that on her gazed,
And kindly voices fell upon her ear,
And gentle hands brought gifts of lovely flowers,
And curious sea-shells from the ocean shore;
And voices, sweet with richest melody
Of sound, and in true soul of music, sang
In glowing strains of their own land of flowers,
Yet could not lift the shadows from her soul.
And then was sent a message o'er the seas
To friends who knew her in her childhood days,
Who came and bore her to her native land.
And while her soul was wrapt in grief's dark pall,
She oft would muse upon the lessons taught
By her own mother while on earth she lived.
Who sought upon her young mind to impress
The truth that God doth see and know all things,
And that she might be blest by Him, to live,
Avoiding wrong in thought, or word, or deed.
One night, when all her soul had poured its tide
Of grief in solitude through many hours,
And when the holy angel, Sleep, had seen,
With pitying gaze, her tears, and softly closed
Her weary eyes, and soothed her to repose,
Upon her soul a glorious vision burst.
The clouds and mists which hovered o'er this world
By angel hands were parted; and she through
A cloudless track of ether winged her way.
Around her, planets in their orbits rolled,
Though at a mighty distance. She beheld,
Far off, the firmaments of many orbs,
Resplendent with their constellations bright,
Illumed by moons, some of the circular,
And some of gibbous, and of crescent form;
And, at the same time, in some heavens shone
A shape of each, and from the same bright sky;
And comets, too, flamed through the vast expanse.
And sometimes so o'erpowering was the light
That on her shone from burning suns and stars,
She could not see her spirit-guides; but when
For her they waved their hands, the golden light
In circles moved, and whither thus she knew
To bend her way. At last the light around
More spiritual seemed; and she beheld,
Through its transparent rays, bright seraph forms,
And seraph faces on her looked and smiled.
And there, with spirit-glances on her bent,
From eyes which inspiration deep had lit
With the intense effulgence of its rays,
Her own eyes beamed with an unearthly light.
And there was one whose clear and joyous gaze
With light familiar beamed. It was not long
Until the child the mother knew, and then
They met as friends who lived and loved on earth
May meet where earthly woes are known no more.
The air around with melody was filled;
And then the mother said, "Thou must return
To earth awhile. Go forth into the world
Where'er our Father and his angels guide;
And whomsoe'er thou meet'st, if thou mayst read
The deep inworkings of a noble soul
In search of truth, and all the grand, the good,
The beautiful in life, then know that there
A brother or a sister thou hast found.
Then keep thy own soul pure, and from its shrine
Let sweet affection's holy incense rise.
So shalt thou win the love of human hearts,
And friendships form for earth-life not alone,
But which shall grow mature in spheres above,
Where love's bright eye is never dimmed with tears."
Thus did the mother to the maiden speak,
Then in her arms enfolded her, as she
Was wont to do when the unconscious smile
Of infancy played on her lips, and on
Her brow she pressed one holy kiss. O earth!
Hast thou a measure for the wondrous depth,
The tender purity, of mother-love?
The vision vanished, and the orphan woke
Again to consciousness of earthly things,
But with the memory of that night impressed
Too deeply on her soul to be effaced.
And to her soul's eye ever from this time
All earthly things were changed, and nature seemed
Illumed with rays divine; the breezes mild
Brought whisperings of heaven; and e'en the flowers
That bloomed so humbly in the wayside path
Seemed placed there by some wise directing hand.
She gazed upon the mountains towering high,
And on their brows she read—sublimity.
She loved the grandeur of the midnight skies,
The smiling beauty of the crimson morn.
She thought upon the world within—the mind,
With all its noble, its God-given powers
Of fancy, reason, thought, more wondrous far
Than all the vast material universe,
Though reaching far out in infinity,—
Then humbly said, with an uplifted eye,
"I praise Thee, O thou Ruler over all!"
The page of science now possessed new charms,
And over volumes stored with glowing thoughts
She oft would linger long. New energies
Were roused within her soul, and wheresoe'er
Through all the years of life on earth she roamed,
She sought to bless mankind; and many ones
Would praise with gratitude her bounteous hand.
But not alone is sorrow found where want
And poverty and sickness come, for earth
Hath many who have never known what 'tis
To suffer these stern ills of life, yet bowed
Beneath the weight of other griefs and cares.
And such of these as came within her sphere,
With delicate and tender sympathy
She sought to soothe; for, oh! so well she knew,
Should mountains crumble and the hills remove,
And though the planetary orbs should cease
To roll in their elliptic paths, one word,
One look of kindness, will forever live.
Its smiles of beaming light on all around
Through many months of each returning year;
Where flowers of brilliant hues and lofty mien
Lift up their beauteous heads to catch the gleams
From tropic skies, and where the waving ferns
Grow almost as luxuriant as did
Their sister tribes of paleozoic time.
In one fair, peaceful vale, where all day long
The birds had warbled and the breezes played,
A solemn silence seemed to reign o'er all.
And well it might: the messenger of Death
Was waiting near, a human soul to bear
From all the busy scenes of this fair earth
To far and untried spirit-realms beyond.
Yes, in that hour a dying mother looked
Affection's last look on an only child,
A maiden young and fair, although her face
The trace of anguish and deep sorrow bore,
And soon she, too, must know the lonely griefs
Of orphanhood. Three weeks had scarcely passed
Since in its narrow resting-place was laid
Her father's form, beneath a foreign soil,
With foreign blossoms o'er his tomb to wave.
For they were wanderers in that sunny land;
Their own sweet home lay far across the seas.
The last sad moment came; the mother clasped
The maiden's hand within her own so cold,
And gazed upon her with a look whose deep,
Deep meaning none might understand save her,
So long the object of that mother's love.
Her spirit gently winged its flight to heaven;
And when o'er earth another bright day dawned,
The maiden stood beside her mother's grave.
She lingered there awhile, then turned away,
A lonely orphan in a stranger's land.
Yet were the faces kind that on her gazed,
And kindly voices fell upon her ear,
And gentle hands brought gifts of lovely flowers,
And curious sea-shells from the ocean shore;
And voices, sweet with richest melody
Of sound, and in true soul of music, sang
In glowing strains of their own land of flowers,
Yet could not lift the shadows from her soul.
And then was sent a message o'er the seas
To friends who knew her in her childhood days,
Who came and bore her to her native land.
And while her soul was wrapt in grief's dark pall,
She oft would muse upon the lessons taught
By her own mother while on earth she lived.
Who sought upon her young mind to impress
The truth that God doth see and know all things,
And that she might be blest by Him, to live,
Avoiding wrong in thought, or word, or deed.
One night, when all her soul had poured its tide
Of grief in solitude through many hours,
And when the holy angel, Sleep, had seen,
With pitying gaze, her tears, and softly closed
Her weary eyes, and soothed her to repose,
Upon her soul a glorious vision burst.
The clouds and mists which hovered o'er this world
By angel hands were parted; and she through
A cloudless track of ether winged her way.
Around her, planets in their orbits rolled,
Though at a mighty distance. She beheld,
Far off, the firmaments of many orbs,
Resplendent with their constellations bright,
Illumed by moons, some of the circular,
And some of gibbous, and of crescent form;
And, at the same time, in some heavens shone
A shape of each, and from the same bright sky;
And comets, too, flamed through the vast expanse.
And sometimes so o'erpowering was the light
That on her shone from burning suns and stars,
She could not see her spirit-guides; but when
For her they waved their hands, the golden light
In circles moved, and whither thus she knew
To bend her way. At last the light around
More spiritual seemed; and she beheld,
Through its transparent rays, bright seraph forms,
And seraph faces on her looked and smiled.
And there, with spirit-glances on her bent,
From eyes which inspiration deep had lit
With the intense effulgence of its rays,
Her own eyes beamed with an unearthly light.
And there was one whose clear and joyous gaze
With light familiar beamed. It was not long
Until the child the mother knew, and then
They met as friends who lived and loved on earth
May meet where earthly woes are known no more.
The air around with melody was filled;
And then the mother said, "Thou must return
To earth awhile. Go forth into the world
Where'er our Father and his angels guide;
And whomsoe'er thou meet'st, if thou mayst read
The deep inworkings of a noble soul
In search of truth, and all the grand, the good,
The beautiful in life, then know that there
A brother or a sister thou hast found.
Then keep thy own soul pure, and from its shrine
Let sweet affection's holy incense rise.
So shalt thou win the love of human hearts,
And friendships form for earth-life not alone,
But which shall grow mature in spheres above,
Where love's bright eye is never dimmed with tears."
Thus did the mother to the maiden speak,
Then in her arms enfolded her, as she
Was wont to do when the unconscious smile
Of infancy played on her lips, and on
Her brow she pressed one holy kiss. O earth!
Hast thou a measure for the wondrous depth,
The tender purity, of mother-love?
The vision vanished, and the orphan woke
Again to consciousness of earthly things,
But with the memory of that night impressed
Too deeply on her soul to be effaced.
And to her soul's eye ever from this time
All earthly things were changed, and nature seemed
Illumed with rays divine; the breezes mild
Brought whisperings of heaven; and e'en the flowers
That bloomed so humbly in the wayside path
Seemed placed there by some wise directing hand.
She gazed upon the mountains towering high,
And on their brows she read—sublimity.
She loved the grandeur of the midnight skies,
The smiling beauty of the crimson morn.
She thought upon the world within—the mind,
With all its noble, its God-given powers
Of fancy, reason, thought, more wondrous far
Than all the vast material universe,
Though reaching far out in infinity,—
Then humbly said, with an uplifted eye,
"I praise Thee, O thou Ruler over all!"
The page of science now possessed new charms,
And over volumes stored with glowing thoughts
She oft would linger long. New energies
Were roused within her soul, and wheresoe'er
Through all the years of life on earth she roamed,
She sought to bless mankind; and many ones
Would praise with gratitude her bounteous hand.
But not alone is sorrow found where want
And poverty and sickness come, for earth
Hath many who have never known what 'tis
To suffer these stern ills of life, yet bowed
Beneath the weight of other griefs and cares.
And such of these as came within her sphere,
With delicate and tender sympathy
She sought to soothe; for, oh! so well she knew,
Should mountains crumble and the hills remove,
And though the planetary orbs should cease
To roll in their elliptic paths, one word,
One look of kindness, will forever live.