Classic Poem

Do you ever think when your Eden tree
Is flourishing wide and green,
With friendships thicker than fruits of gold,
And love with its flowers between —
How many beautiful souls may be
That your soul hath never seen?
And how much " loving " your heart could hold
In apples of silver, and blossoms of gold,
Were your heart an evergreen?

In a world so wide there are nooks to hide,
And shadows to veil the sweet;
And there are the wise with unseeing eyes,
And the swift with unheeding feet.
Happier we, were our Eden tree
A tent in the desert's heat,
Who hold that the very angel who spoke
To Abraham, under the Mamre oak,
May be the next we meet!

'Tis a pleasant thought when the eventide,
In glory, looks down on our prayers,
That we have not mocked in the day of our pride
The meanest pilgrim whose dust may hide
An " angel unawares " !
And a beautiful hope, as the night unrolls
Her raiment of rest serene,
That we are nearer the beautiful souls
That our souls have never seen.