Classic Poem

Lingering notes the echoes stir,
Soft and sweet, these walls along;
Softly, sweetly they concur
In the pleasant tide of song;
Night birds cease their plaintive lays
Listening to the hymn of praise.

Angels gliding through the air,
On celestial mission bent,
Pause, the sacred hymn to hear,
Fold their wings in soft content,
Join their notes divine to these,
Hymning Masons' mysteries.

Now the solitary room,
Peopled with a countless throng,—
Now the stillness and the gloom
Kindled with the tide of song,
Filling our delighted ears—
Music of three thousand years!

Every Emblem pictured there,
On the ceiling, wall or floor,
Gavel , T ROWEL , A PRON , S QUARE ,
C OLUMN rent or open D OOR ,
Blends a light and yields a tongue,
To this softly lingering song.

Now the anthem dies away;
One by one the voices cease;
Birds resume their wonted lay;
Angels on their mission press;
But the latest note that moves
In the mystic song is L OVE'S !