Hymn: Why Should Dreams So Dark And Dreary Poem by John Bowring

Why should dreams so dark and dreary
Fill my thought?
Is there nought,
Nought to soothe and bless the weary?
Night may wrap the arch of heaven-
Soon a ray,
Bright with day,
Cheers the morn and gilds the even.


I have seen the mountain hidden
In a shroud-
Mist and cloud;
Say, was hope or joy forbidden?
No!-I knew its summit hoary
Soon would rise,
'Midst the skies,
Girt with green and crowned with glory.


Many a stream with song of gladness,
Many a rill,
Silent, still,
Winter binds in chains of sadness,-
Many a water-fall and river:-
Summer's wand
Breaks their band,
And their music ceases never.


Is the sun in heaven no longer,
When the rain
Sweeps the plain?
Soon he blazes brighter-stronger.
Is the flow'ret's sleep eternal,
When its cup,
Folded up,
Waits the smiles and breezes vernal?


Why should man, then-child of sorrow-
Mourn his doom?
Present gloom
Will be light and bliss to-morrow.
Why should man, then, bound his vision
To the cell
Where we dwell?
Worlds are his-and worlds elysian.


Even here all pain is fleeting;
Even here,
Joy and care
Join in constant, earnest greeting:
But where all our hopes are tending,
Peace and love
Reign above-
Bliss unbroken-joy unending.