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| BEYOND these chilling winds and gloomy skies, | |
| Beyond death’s cloudy portal, | |
| There is a land where beauty never dies, | |
| Where love becomes immortal; | |
| |
| A land whose life is never dimmed by shade, | 5 |
| Whose fields are ever vernal; | |
| Where nothing beautiful can ever fade, | |
| But blooms for aye eternal. | |
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| We may know how sweet its balmy air, | |
| How bright and fair its flowers; | 10 |
| We may not hear the songs that echo there, | |
| Through those enchanted bowers. | |
| |
| The city’s shining towers we may not see | |
| With our dim earthly vision, | |
| For Death, the silent warder, keeps the key | 15 |
| That opes the gates elysian. | |
| |
| But sometimes, when adown the western sky | |
| A fiery sunset lingers, | |
| Its golden gates swing inward noiselessly, | |
| Unlocked by unseen fingers. | 20 |
| |
| And while they stand a moment half ajar, | |
| Gleams from the inner glory | |
| Stream brightly through the azure vault afar, | |
| And half reveal the story. | |
| |
| O land unknown! O land of love divine! | 25 |
| Father, all-wise, eternal! | |
| O, guide these wandering, wayworn feet of mine | |
| Into those pastures vernal! | |
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