TRUE HAPPINESS

Oh, not in shining gold
From earth-born sorrows can we solace find,
Nor on the scroll of fame our name enrolled
Can satisfy the mind.HHHH 106.2

Not in the festal throng,
Where youth and beauty meet so fresh and gay,
Whose lighted balls echo with dance and song,
In splendor’s bright array.HHHH 106.3

‘Tis but a moment’s light,
That soon will fade as rainbow tints so fair,
The cup of pleasure sparkling e’er so bright,
A poison lurketh there.HHHH 106.4

In all earth’s wide domain
Of bright and beauteous things, the golden prize
Thou’lt seek and strive to grasp for aye in vain-
The airy phantom flies.HHHH 106.5

Earth teems with glad’ning flowers,
And sunny skies and silver streams rejoice,
And music swells from breezes, birds and bowers,
In one harmonious voice.HHHH 107.1

But if dark passion’s cloud
Dim the mind’s sky and wither hopes once true,
Then earth’s bright scenes dressed in a gloomy shroud,
Will wear a sombre hue.HHHH 107.2

And the melodious choir
Of nature’s sounds will fall discordant, lone,
If unattuned the soul’s deep sacred lyre
To vibrate back their tone.HHHH 107.3

It is the soul within
That stamps life’s varied scenes with light and shade,
Whether in flowry paths we tread, or in
Rude thorns our path be made,HHHH 107.4

A plant of heavenly birth,
And watered with celestial dews, ‘twill bloom
With beauty ne’er to fade, and o’er the earth
Will shed its sweet perfume.HHHH 107.5

Deep in the heart it lies,
A priceless pearl to weary mortals given-
A flame of love that never, never dies;
‘Tis not of earth, but heaven.HHHH 107.6

And in the fevered tone
Of strife, serene its peace without alloy,
An emanation from the eternal throne-
A foretaste of its joy.HHHH 108.1

A radiant start to shine
O’er life’s rough, darkest paths, to guide our way
Through death’s dark portal, with its rays divine,
To realms of endless day.HHHH 108.2