Oh! for a burst of song

Oh for a burst of song,

Exultant, deep, and strong,

One gush of music's billowy might,

To bear my soul away

Into the realms of day,

From these dim glacier-caves of Life's cold night!

Oh for a sunset strain

Wafted o'er slumberous main,

To enter, spirit-like, my prisoned heart,

And there, with viewless hand,

Unloose each mortal band,

That in the songs of heaven I too might learn a part.

The sweetest music here

Calls forth the quiet tear,

For grief and gladness flow in blended stream;

Oh for the joyous day,

(Can it be far away?)

When one great Alleluia song shall chase Life's tuneless dream!