Glen Collection of printed music > Printed music > British minstrel, and musical and literary miscellany

MUSICAL AND LITERARY MISCELLANY.
203
Ho came to an unknown stream,
And he traced its banks along;
It roll'd with an all unearthly gleam,
And a murmur more sweet than song.
The flowers of this world were round,
But in more than earthly bloom ;
The bird's lay mix'd with the river's sound,
But they waved a brighter plume
And they sung in a voice more melting there
Than ever was heard but in that sweet air.
'Twas seldom peace came o'er
A breast to the war field given ;
He fled to muse o'er the battle's roar.
And the steed o'er the dying driven ;
Yet the lone and lovely scene
Flung over his heart its calm ;
His eye was mild and his brow serene.
As if some mysterious balm
Had been sprinkled over his stormy soul.
And bidden its war- wave cease to roll.
A moment there he stood
No more ambition's slave ;
Entranc'd by the sound of the warbling flood.
And the light of its shining wave.
At length, by his wondering train.
Tile voice of the King was heard,
But so chang'd its tone that they wished again
To dwell on each silver word.
" We will trace this mystic stream to its birth,
If it be indeed a river of earth !"
Against its course they stray'd
Through meadsof fairest bloom.
While the breeze o'er the fairy stream that play'd
Drew from it a strange perfume.
Swans whiter than ever were seen.
Their wings to the wave unfurled,
Or sung, from their bowers on the islets green,
Songs meet for a fairer world ;
The Lotus in unknown lustre blew,
And the rose seem'd starr'd with Elysian dew.
The scene, at each step they took.
Still became more wond'rous fair;
Oh ! at that bright stream, a single look
Were enough to heal despair.
At length they saw where a river div'd
'Neath (of gems) a lustrous wall.
And the King at a gate arrived,
Wrought of a l)urning diamond all ;
Trees within, unnamed in mortal bowers,
Droop'd under tlie weight of their splendid flowers.
The eager King struck long
At the radiant gate, in vain;
But at length, from within, a voice of song
Replied to his call again.
" Who has traced the sacred spring.
Who knocks at the blissful gates?"
•' Alexander, the King of the wide world's Kings,
Too long for an entrance waits !"
" Too long — proud Spoiler, return thee home,
No blood-stain'd feet in these pure bowers roam."
"' And who will dare refuse
What the Victor of earth demands?"
" He is One, thou man of blood, whose dues
Must be paid by holier hands;
In whose eye thou art a worm;
In whose scale thou art but dust;
Who gave thee that mind, and power, and form.
Which have been too much thy trust ;
Retire from these walls with thy guilty swords,
This Paradise is The Almighty Lord's! "
Alexander felt it vain
To press for an entrance more,
Yet it was with grief and pain
That he left the diamond door;
But scarce had his steps been turned.
When open the bright gate flew.
And a form in whose eye the immortal beamed.
Before him a veiled gift threw ;
" Let this," said he, " a token be.
Thou hast stood so near the Paradise Tree!"
The conqueror reach'd the camp,
Of the strange adventure full ;
But how did the gift his warm hopes damp —
Twas the fragment of a skull.
" Is this my prize, was it but for this
That I stood at the rainl)ow wall,
That I heard upon the winds of bliss
The musical life-streams fall ?
What this may mean it were vain to try.
Unless the giver himself were nigh."
Just as the word he spoke
An old man enter'd there,
His strength by the weight of years was broke,
And in silver flow'd his hair.
Yet his brow, though pale, was high ;
His form, though frail, was grand;
And the light of youth yet flash'd in his eye.
Though the staff was in his hand.
He passed through the midst of the courtly ring,
And in calm sweet words addressed the King.
" Lord King, the Almighty's gift
Has that which passeth show.
Though light enough for a babe to lift.
It outweighs all the gold below.
Let the balance straight be brought.
And the gold of thy rich stores laid
Against it; all will be as nought
With that light fragment weigh'd."
The treasures were brought, and in heaps uproU'd,
But the bone weighed down the conqueror's gold.
" I see thee, Prince, amazed
At the marvel I have shown.
But know, that the more the pile is raised
The more will the gift sink down.
Dost thou ask me how or why?
I am come to answer all :
That bone is the cell of a human eye,
And it once contained a ball
Whose thirst of gold nought ever could slake
Though the sea had been changed to a golden lake."
" Can there nought," said the musing King,
"To sink the rich scale be found?"
The old man stepped from the tent to bring
A turf from the broken ground.
He crumbled the earth on the bone,
Down sunk the golden scale :
" Behold, Proud Prince, the moral shown
Of thine and of every tale.
When the dust of the grave shall seal it o'er
The insatiate eye can desire no more!"
" My guards," Alexander cried,
"Dare the dotard brave me here."
With an eye of death the seer he eyed,
But it soon was sunk in fear.
The snows of earthly age
Became locks of starry prime ;
The form and face of the stranger sage
Wore a glory unknown to time:
And they who had seen the bright gates expand
Remember'd the guard of the Paradise land.