The world had long been sleeping;
The earth was cold and gray;
I heard but the sound of my footsteps
As they echoed on the way;
And the voice of pines whose singing
Was learned of the waves by day.
I raced with a star while dreaming
All through the silent night;
Till I felt the air on my forehead
Of the night bird's sweeping flight;
Yet I saw the bending primrose,
And the lily tall and white.
It mattered not though the pathway
Grew stony, narrow, steep;
That to thorns turned rose and lily,
For my soul, too glad to weep,
Pursued the beautiful vision,
With ecstasy full and deep.
On, on through the dewy silence
My restless spirit fled,
No thought of all I was leaving
While that starry glory led,
Which beckoned, forever beckoned,
And forever onward sped.
It was only a dream and faded
When the sun touched dale and hill.
Only a dream! but onward
Its glory leads me still.
O, beautiful star, I follow!
Lead wheresoever you will.
