Through The Valley

(After James Thomson)
As I came through the Valley of Despair,
 As I came through the valley, onmy sight,
 More awful that the darkness of the night,
Shone glimpses of a Past that had been fair,
 And memories of eyes that used to smile,
 And wafts of perfume from a vanished isle,
As I came through the valley.

As I came through the valley I could see,
 As I came through the valley, fair and far,
 As drowning men look up and see a star,
The fading shore of my lost Used-to-be;
 And like an arrow in my heart I heard
 The last sad notes of Hope’s expiring bird,
As I came through the valley.

As I came through the valley desolate,
 As I came through the valley, like a beam
 Of lurid lightning I beheld a gleam
Of Love’s great eyes that now were full of hate.
 Dear God! dear God! I could bear all but that;
 But I fell down soul-stricken, dead, thereat,
As I came through the valley.