  (illuminated capital) I dreamed that in the stilly hush of night— Deep midnight—I was startled from my sleep By a clear sound as of a trumpet! Loud It swelled, and louder, thrilling every nerve, Making the heart beat wildly, strangely, till All other senses seemed in hearing lost. Up from my couch I sprang in trembling haste, Cast on my garments, wondering to behold Through half-closed shutters sudden radiance gleam, More clear, more vivid than the glare of day! What marvel, then, that with a breathless hope That gave me wings, forth from my home I rushed, Though heaved the earth as if instinct with life, Its very dust awakening! Can it be— Is this the call, “Behold the Bridegroom comes!” Comes He, the long-expected—long-desired? Crowds thronged the street, with every face upturned, Gazing into the sky—the flaming sky— Where every cloud was like a throne of light. None could look back, not even to behold If those beloved were nigh; one thrilling thought Rapt all the multitude—“Can He be near!” Then cries of terror rose—I scarcely heard; And buildings shook, and rocked, and crashing fell— I scarcely marked their fall; the trembling ground Rose like the billowy sea—I scarcely felt The motion, such intensity of hope— Joy—expectation—flooded all my soul, A tide of living light, o’erwhelming all The hopes and fears, the cares and woes of earth! Could any doubt remain? Lo! from afar A sound of “Hallelujah!” ne’er before Had mortal ear drunk in such heavenly strain, Save when on Bethlehem’s plain the shepherds heard The music of the skies! Behold! behold! Like white-winged angels rise the radiant throng That from yon cemetery’s gloomy verge Have burst, immortal—glorious—undefiled! Bright as the sun their crowns celestial shine, Yet I behold them with undazzled eye! Oh! that yon glittering canopy of light Would burst asunder, that I might behold Him whom so long, not seeing, I have loved! It parted—lo! it opened—as I stood With clasped hands stretched towards heav’n, my eager gaze Fixed on the widening glory! Suddenly, As if the burden of the flesh no more Could fetter down the aspiring soul to earth, As if the fleshly nature were consumed— Lost in the glowing ecstasy of love— I soared aloft, I mounted through the air Free as a spirit, rose to meet my Lord With such a cry of rapture—that I woke! Oh! misery, to wake in darkness, wake From vision of unutterable joy, Instead of trumpet-sound and song of heaven, To hear the dull clock measuring out time, When I had seemed to touch eternity! In the first pang of disappointed hope, I wept that I could wake from such a dream. Until Faith gently whispered, “Wherefore weep To lose the faint dim shadow of a joy Of which the substance shall one day be thine? Live in the hope,—that hope shall brighten life And sanctify it to its highest end.” Fast roll the chariot wheels of time. He comes! The Spirit and the Bride expectant wait,— Even so come, Lord Jesus! Saviour—come! |
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