The Kingdom of Love

Excerpt

THE KINGDOM OF LOVE

In the dawn of the day when the sea and the earth
   Reflected the sunrise above,
I set forth with a heart full of courage and mirth
   To seek for the Kingdom of Love.
I asked of a Poet I met on the way
   Which cross-road would lead me aright;
And he said “Follow me, and ere long you shall see
   Its glittering turrets of light.”

And soon in the distance a city shone fair.
   “Look yonder,” he said; “How it gleams!”
But alas! for the hopes that were doomed to despair,
   It was only the “Kingdom of Dreams.”
Then the next man I asked was a gay Cavalier,
   And he said: “Follow me, follow me”;
And with laughter and song we went speeding along
   By the shores of Life’s beautiful sea.

Then we came to a valley more tropical far
   Than the wonderful vale of Cashmere,
And I saw from a bower a face like a flower
   Smile out on the gay Cavalier;
And he said: “We have come to humanity’s goal:
   Here love and delight are intense.”
But alas and alas! for the hopes of my soul—
   It was only the “Kingdom of Sense.”

As I journeyed more slowly I met on the road
   A coach with retainers behind;
And they said: “Follow me, for our Lady’s abode
   Belongs in that realm, you will find.”
’Twas a grand dame of fashion, a newly-made bride,
   I followed, encouraged and bold;
But my hopes died away like the last gleams of day,
   For we came to the “Kingdom of Gold.”

At the door of a cottage I asked a fair maid.
   “I have heard of that realm,” she replied;
“But my feet never roam from the ‘Kingdom of Home,’
   So I know not the way,” and she sighed.
I looked on the cottage; how restful it seemed!
   And the maid was as fair as a dove.
Great light glorified my soul as I cried:
   “Why, Home is the ‘Kingdom of Love’!”

The sun rode high in a cloudless sky
   Of a perfect summer morn.
She stood and gazed out into the street,
   And wondered why she was born.
On the topmost branch of a maple-tree
   That close by the window grew,
A robin called to his mate enthralled:
   “I love but you, but you, but you.”

A soft look came in her hardened face—
   She had not wept for years;
But the robin’s trill, as some sounds will,
   Jarred open the door of tears.
She thought of the old home far away;
   She heard the whr-r-r of the mill;
She heard the turtle’s wild, sweet call,
   And the wail of the whip-poor-will, whip-poor-will, whip-poor-will.

She saw again that dusty road
   Whence he came riding down;
She smelled once more the flower she wore
   In the breast of her simple gown.
Out on the new-mown meadow she heard
   Two blue-jays quarrel and fret,
And the warning cry of a Phoebe bird
   “More wet, more wet, more wet.”

With a blithe “Hello” to the men below
   Who were spreading the new-mown hay,
The rider drew rein at her window-pane—
   How it all came back to-day!
How young she was, and how fair she was;
   What innocence crowned her brow...!