Oh! Heed Not Those Beams Poem by Edward Henry Bickersteth

“Our visions are deceiving lights that lead us on to our destruction; our
idols are always broken in pieces before our eyes.”—
~Lady C. Bury.

Oh! heed not those beams, though awhile they illumine,
And shed o'er thy soul the repose of the blest;
They gleam but to leave thee mid night's darkness glooming,
And only deceive thee and mock thy unrest.
Too long have I gazed o'er false visions, foretelling
Of joy and of happiness ne'er to be mine;
Too long—oh! too long—has this lone breast been dwelling
O'er bright dreams, alas! which destroy as they shine!
Our idols, what are they?—that thus they should linger
And cling round our hearts mid disease and decay:
All earthly—they die—touched by Time's leaden finger,
And leave us to weep o'er the close of life's day.
And yet how we love them, and wreathe them with beauty,
While the sunlight of day is in its first prime;
And e'en in maturity, heedless of duty,
We loiter—we worship—we turn to their shrine.
And many a prayer, from the full heart ascending,
Is caught from Heaven's throne by some loved ones on earth;
While devotion's warm flame, a bright halo lending,
In death haunts the idols which fostered its birth!