We walk in the present as roamed we the past, With gladness before us and joys unsurpassed, And Love lights the new days as Love lit the old, With the smile of her joy and the laugh of her gold! The world and its sorrows no longer supreme Fade away in the smiles of the wonderful dream, Of the shadows that falleth on beautiful road. O, Sorrow, stay far in the desolate night, Where the black of your wings bears the black of your flight, And hasten, O tears, down the deserts that lie In the silences vast of the bleak bye-and-bye! O, Joy, tune the stars till they sing through the night, While Love wreaths the lilies of Good with delight,— Till the stars fill the earth with the seraphim song, And Love with her garlands hides all of the wrong! |