Page:Poems Dorr.djvu/389

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THE CLOSED GATE
I walked along a narrow way;
The sun was shining everywhere;
The jocund earth was glad and gay,
With morning freshness in the air.

The grass was green beneath my feet;
The skies were blue and soft o'erhead;
The robin carolled clear and sweet,
And flowers their fragrance round me shed.

How shone the great hills far away;
How clear they rose against the blue;
How fair the tranquil meadows lay,
Where the bright river glances through!

But suddenly, as on I pressed,
Before me frowned a closéd gate;
Filled with dismay, and sore distressed,
I strove in vain to conquer fate!

Beyond, the hills for which I sighed—
Beyond, the valleys still and fair—
Beyond, the meadows stretching wide,
And all the shining fields of air!

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What does it mean, O Father! when
Thy children reach some closéd gate,
Which, though they knock and knock again,
Will not its watch and ward abate?