Oh for a burst of song,
Exultant, deep, and strong,
One gush of music's billowy might,
To bear my soul away
Into the realms of day,
From these dim glacier-caves of Life's cold night!

Oh for a sunset strain
Wafted o'er slumberous main,
To enter, spirit-like, my prisoned heart,
And there, with viewless hand,
Unloose each mortal band,
That in the songs of heaven I, too, might learn a part.

The sweetest music here
Calls forth the quiet fear,
For grief and gladness flow in blended stream;
Oh for the joyous day
(Can it be far away?)
When one great Alleluia song shall chase life's tuneless dream!