Page:Over the river, and other poems.djvu/42

Beautiful city, bright home of the blessed!
When shall I stand by thy crystalline sea?

Earth's joys are sweet, but they lure me from duty;
Earth-loves are strong, but they bind like a chain!
Sometimes my heart clings to life and earth's beauty
With a wild yearning that grows into pain;
And I forget the- bright glories that wait me
Over the river on heaven's happy plain.

There bloom the flowers that wither, ah never!
There live -the loved ones who've passed from my sight;
There ring the anthems that sound on forever;
There walk the saints in their garments of white;