The Youth's Companion/July 19, 1860/Heaven

by Nancy Amelia Woodbury Priest Wakefield

Heaven.

[The following beautiful lines, by the author of that exquisite poem “Over the River,” (Miss N. A. W. Priest), first appeared in the Springfield Republican:]

Beyond these chilling winds and gloomy skies,
Beyond death’s cloudy portal
There is a land where beauty never dies
And love becomes immortal:

A land whose light is never dimmed by shade,
Whose fields are ever vernal:
Where nothing beautiful can ever fade,
But blooms for aye, eternal.

We may not know how sweet its balmy air,
How bright and fair its flowers;
We may not hear the songs that echo there,
Through those enchanted bowers.

The city’s shining towers we may not see,
With our dim earthly vision:
For Death, the silent warden, keeps the key,
That opes those gates elysian.

But sometimes, when adown the Western sty
The fiery sunset lingers,
Its golden gates swing inward noiselessly,
Unlocked by unseen fingers.

And while they stand a moment half ajar,
Gleams from the inner glory
Stream brightly through the azure vault afar,
And half reveal the story.

O, land unknown! O land of love divine!
Father, all wise eternal,
Guide, guide these wondering way-worn feet of mine,
Into the pastures vernal.

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