Classic Poem

North, South, East, West, and everywhere,
O'er hill and dale, in holy earth,
The emblems of the Masons are,
Where Masonry itself had birth.

*****

I met them on the stony hills,
Where olives yield the " oil of joy "
I marked them by the sunny rills
Where lilies hang their petals coy;
I found them on swift Jordan's shore;
Upon the verge of Galilee
I read their " quaint and curious lore, "
Those ancient types of Masonry.

Where vines upon Judea's fields
Pour forth their sweet, refreshing juice;
Where Ephraim's cornland bounteous yields
Its nourishment to human use;
Where the tall cedars glad the sight
On high and snowy Lebanon;
And Hiram's palm trees , strong and bright,
Hold forth their branches to the sun.

The almona taught me all its lore;
On Joppa's beach the scallop-shell
Lit up the old historic shore
With many a song remembered well;
By Junia's Bay, the broken shaft
Recalled the fate of " Him that died "
And far and near, the ancient craft
Their checkered pave had scattered wide;
The fair pomegranate's scarlet flower
Revived me in the noontide gleam,
Flaming through many a verdant bower
That overhangs the murmuring stream.

In every cave I saw the print
Of gave! marks and working band;
On every hill the skillful dint
Of chisel in the working hand;
Each mighty ashlar bears a trace
Indelibly inscribed, to show
That till old time those marks efface
Freemasons have their work to do.

The Parian marble meets the eve
In ruined shrines and palaces —
And yields its sacred purple dye,
The murex of Sidonian seas;
The salt presents on Sodom's shore
Its test of hospitality,
As though the patriarch at his door
Stood yet, the coming guest to spy.

The funeral lamp , within each tomb,
Speaks grandly of the ancient faith,
And burns and lightens up the gloom
With its own doctrine, " life in death "
The acacia too, in bloom outside,
Tells to the moldering form within —
" Not always shall the dead abide;
The morn will break, the sun will shine! "

All these I saw; and by the Sea
Of Galilee, upon a stone
Of wondrous grace, appeared to me
The signet of King Solomon:
The gentle dews that on me fell
When midnight stars inspired the sky,
Told where the old historic hill
Of Hermon soared in majesty.

'Twas like a vision thus to rove
Amidst the emblems of the Art,
Which cheer the eye below, above,
And with their wisdom fill the heart;
No wonder — 'twas my frequent thought
At noontide's stilly hour of ease —
No wonder Tyrian Craftsmen wrought,
Inspired by emblems such as these!