Through fields and halls of learning

Through fields and halls of learning,

Now silent and now with song,

His heart in rapture burning,

The trav'ller speeds along.

While in the east are glowing

The first faint beams of day,

The flow'rs of thought are blowing

To cheer his onward way!

The lark proclaims the morning,

As high in the air it springs;

The trav'ller knows the warning,

And hails the toil it brings.

O joy! from some tall mountain,

To gaze with looks of love

On wood, and stream, and fountain,

And clear blue skies above!

The birds abroad are flying,

The clouds do not lag behind;

But human thoughts are hieing

More swift than bird or wind.

The birds will soon be dropping,

The clouds dissolve in rain;

But thought and song ne'er stopping

Will reach to heav'n's domain.