MOTHER, I've been almost to where Earth's sorrowing children are freed from care; I've seen the light of that burnished throne, As its beams through the golden portals shone; And heard the songs which the redeemed sing, And the plaudits of angels' rustling wings. My arms were permitted to bear above A tender cherub of earthly love; And these mortal eyes were allowed to see, One moment, the Court of Felicity,— In the City of God,—where is known no sin, But my soul was too earthly to enter in;- And my sorrowing spirit but paused awhile To gaze on the light of that silvery isle, Where no sun is needed to illumine its shades, For the glory of God over all pervades. I raised my arms, with their burden fair, And an angel of light, with bright, shining hair, Descended and took back again to heaven What the Lord but an hour before had given. I watched the vision dissolve away, Like the last sweet gleam of a sunset ray, And my yearning soul in a prayer uprose, As I saw the gates slowly before me close,— A prayer that my spirit might yet find rest In that beautiful vale, with the pure and blest, Where no earthly sorrow can ever come To mar the joys of that peaceful home.
