Through The Valley.

        [AFTER JAMES THOMSON.]

        As I came through the Valley of Despair,
    As I came through the valley, on my sight,
    More awful than the darkness of the night,
        Shone glimpses of a Past that had been fair,
    And memories of eyes that used to smile,
    And wafts of perfume from a vanished isle,
        As I came through the valley.

        As I came through the valley I could see,
    As I came through the valley, fair and far,
    As drowning men look up and see a star,
        The fading shore of my lost Used-to-be;
    And like an arrow in my heart I heard
    The last sad notes of Hope's expiring bird,
        As I came through the valley.

        As I came through the valley desolate,
    As I came through the valley, like a beam
    Of lurid lightning I beheld a gleam
        Of Love's great eyes that now were full of hate.
    Dear God! Dear God! I could bear all but that;
    But I fell down soul-stricken, dead, thereat,
        As I came through the valley.