Songs From Spirit Land

by Achsa White Sprague

I.

Melody, melody! list and ye'll hear!
Angels are singing; the loved ones are near!
Harmony, harmony! songs of pure love
Are floating to greet thee from Bright Ones above!

Can ye not hear it? Then listen again!
'Twould fill thee with rapture to catch the glad strain.
Anthems, glad anthems, are rising to God;
Join in those anthems, O loved, on this sod!

Sweeter and sweeter that strain still shall grow,
When mortals shall join us, -- the loved ones below;
Louder, still louder our paeans shall be,
When Earth from her darkness shall rise and be free!

II.

Burst forth in a song of praise,
O Earth! to God, your King;
The deepest tribute of your hearts
To Him forever bring.

He formed the earth, the sea, the air,
He formed the spreading sky,
And every star that nightly comes
To cheer the gazing eye.

And every little flower that grows
In wild or desert place,
Is but the index of His smile,
A symbol of His grace.

Time was when earth was not, or stars,
Or planetary world,
Or suns, or systems; nought but God
Wide through all space unfurled.

He spake; and worlds on worlds came forth,
And took the place designed,
And each is held in measured course
By His directing mind.

An early poem, composed during sickness.