A Dream That Was Not All A Dream.

Through the half-curtained window stole     An Autumn sunset's glow,     As languid on my couch I lay     With pulses weak and low.     And then methought a presence stood,     With shining feet and fair,     Amid the waves of golden light     That rippled through the air,     And laid upon my heaving breast,     With earnest glance and true,     A babe, whose fair and gentle brow     No shade of sorrow knew.     A solemn joy was in my heart,--     Immortal life was given     To Earth, upon her battle-field     To discipline for Heaven.     Soft music thrilled the quiet room,--     An unseen host were nigh,     Who left the infant pilgrim at     The threshold of our sky.     A new, strange love woke in my heart,     Defying all control,     As on the soft air rose and fell     That birth-hymn for a soul!     And now again the Autumn skies,     As on that evening, shine,     When, from a trance of agony,     I woke to joy divine.     That boundless love is in my heart,     That birth-hymn on the air;     I clasp in mine, with grateful faith,     A tiny hand in prayer.     And bless the God who guides my way,     That, mid this world so wide,     I day by day am walking with     An angel by my side.