HIGH NOON
The sun had climbed high and as birdlings should feast,
My morsel I finished and fell fast asleep;
And dreamed a sweet dream, so rich and so deep,
Till arches of gold reached the rose-portaled east,
Aye! West wedded East and their glories increased—
A dream so sweet,
And marvelous meet;
My soul took wings,
Though captive my feet,
And uplifted high midst eternal springs,
My heart again heard an old, new word:
“Prophetic and incomplete
All earthly things.”
In bright, celestial realm they sweeter sang,
The happy birds that blessed my spell-bound soul,
Upraised to that high world, without a pang.
I saw a shining One with mystic scroll,
The which He, smiling, waved, in full control
Of birds and beings, translated from the earth,
From every land to a great, inviting Goal.
Enthralled by the mighty throng in sacred mirth—
Ah now, me-thought, has come with joy my highest birth!
Angels were rising, many and swift and sheen;
While others, likewise moving with rhythmic grace,
Descending in sweetest song, were heard and seen—
All clothed in the beauteous light of the Father’s face.
Those downward-going bore, in charming case,
The melodies which men and birds might make.
The rising throng made perfect the chords apace
Produced below, ecstatic in their wide wake;
I longed to tarry ever there, without a break.