Poems (Howard)/A Dream (I've had a sweet glimpse)

by Hattie Howard

For works with similar titles, see A Dream.

A Dream.

::I've had a sweet glimpse
  Of a far-away land;
In dreaming, it came unto me;
  I thought I was walking
  Alone by the strand
Of a placid and beautiful sea.

  Its borders abounded
  With verdure and life;
And beyond was a city, so fair,
  That with it in grandeur
  And elegance rife,
There's nothing on earth can compare.

  And angels were there, too;
  Though I've never seen
Them, I know how the angels must look;
  And one of majestic
  And heavenly mien,
Was writing down names in a book.

  I wondered if that were
  The book, we are told,
Where the names of the blessed appear;
  In that beautiful land
  Where the streets are of gold,
And the light is so wondrously clear.

  I longed to know whether
  My name was placed there,
And could not resist, till I spoke
  To the angel, who looked
  O'er the record with care,
But before he could answer,—I woke.

  I'm so disappointed,
  And wish that I had
Received a response to my call;
  For often I fear—
  And the thought is so sad—
That it might not have been there at all.