The Land Beyond The Stars

Beyond the golden gateway of the West,
Whose golden bars are tipped of stars,
And where, beyond, there spreads a golden Land,
And the sun is upraised upon a golden pillar-
As an altar unto Him!
Beyond that golden gateway I would make
My weary way, traversing the golden pathway-
Reading the golden sky, knowing what lies beyond,
When the radiance of the West is passed,
And the sun, seen through the sable veil of night,
Seems as a pale moon, and the golden pathway,
An ebon edifice, and the stars
But pale gleams of some far, far light.
I would traverse beyond e'en this,
Unto that great land removed from sound,
Save for the murmur of creation.
Apart would I withdraw and hark,
Knowing that I should hear a music,
New, yet old, a music familiarly tuned,
A music of old echoes, mellowed;
And harking, I should proclaim
The nearness of the eternal choirs.