II.
THE MERCHANT'S EXCHANGE.
One summer eve, as homeward saunt'ring slowly,
My toils and tasks for that day's business done;
With thoughts composed, and aspirations holy,
That heavenward rose, as downward sank the sun,
I heard a throng, whose multitudinous voices
Proclaimed some act of public weal begun.
The glad acclaim invited close inspection;
And through the crowd I gently made my way,
Till, standing firm upon a light projection,
That spanned a chasm dug deep into the clay,
I heard above the din of city noises,
An honored voice, in solemn accents say:
"In presence of Creation's awful Builder,
I lay for you this polished corner-stone;
God grant no ills your architect bewilder
Till into strength and beauty shall have grown
The Merchant's 'Change that shall adorn your Guilder
When ye have mouldered into dust and bone!"
Day after day, whilst passing to my labor,
I saw that gorgeous edifice arise;
Until its dome, like crest of sacred Tabor,
Sprang from the earth, and arching in the skies,
O'ertopp'd the peak of each aspiring neighbor
That wooed a tribute from the upturned eyes.
There was no pomp of pious dedication,
Boasting this Temple sanctified to God;
And yet my soul, in prayerful meditation,
Believed no less it might be His abode:
For when His arm from bondage led a nation,
He heard their cry, though kneeling on the sod!
Around this mart the world's great trade shall centre;
Within these walls a Babel tumult sound,
Not that which made doomed Shinar a memento
Of human pride laid level to the ground,
But blended music of all tongues shall enter,
And in trade's peaceful symphonies resound!