THE LAND OF HEART'S DESIRE
"Somewhere," he mused, "its dear enchantments wait,
That land, so heavenly sweet;
Yet all the paths we follow, soon or late,
End in the desert's heat.
"And still it lures us to the eager quest,
And calls us day by day"—
"But I," she said, her babe upon her breast
"But I have found the way."
"Some time," he sighed, "when youth and joy are spent,
Our feet the gates may win"—
"But I," she smiled, with eyes of deep content,
"But I have entered in."
Emily Huntington Miller [1833-1913]