Untainted Gold - Adalena Frances Dyer
Instead of golden streets and pearly gate,
The City of my Dreams bears fragrant bloom
Of flowers so fair that I can hardly wait
Within my eager arms to give them room.
Gold is so marred with greed and selfishness,
So fraught with sacrafice and earthly stain,
its hard and sordid glitter would oppress
The finer feelings I had died to gain.
To other hearts the Promised Land may be
Ablaze with gems too bright for mortal gaze;
One little pliott of earth I there would see
With dandelions' stainless gold ablaze.
That much of childhood's innocence and joy
Would I transpant to fields of deathless bloom;
They are so free from stain of earth's alloy,
in heaven's completeness I would give them room.
by Adalena Frances Dyer
Songs by the Wayside
A Hint From Home
I saw a dandelion's sunny face
To-day, shut in by walls of brick and stone!
It lit with fairy gold the sordid place,
Undaunted though a stranger and alone.
And oh, it brought a glimpse of home to me,
Of gray-roofed barns upon a western slope,
Of tranquil herds that grazed and wandered free,
Where buds as bright as living sunshine ope.
My feet no more the city pavement trod,
But quiet lanes and meadows green and lush;
Where in the gay rhodora's flame dwells God,
And thrushes sing his praise in twilight's hush.
I saw the swallows build their nests of clay,
Making the dusty rafters ring with song,
I saw the pear trees in their robes of May.
And heard the thieving bees among them throng.
Because I found that living bit of gold,
Dropped at my homesick feet by friendly spring,
All day in dreams I saw a farm-house old,
And heard the merry song-birds twittering.
It was the magic crystal prized by seers,
Revealing scenes and faces far away,
Destroying with its touch the weary years,
And making me a child again at play.
by Adalena Frances Dyer
Songs by the Wayside