Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1864-01-22
From the Peoples Press.l
THE GARDEN OF DREAMLAND.
BY JOHN H. BoNBR.

Last night dreamed dream
So full of poetry and beauty that
In waking visions still dream it DER;
1t haunts me like my first sweet dream of love;
g. = -
Lost in wilderness of strange, rare beauty,
pensiTe strolled beside moonlit stream
Till suddenly stood, mid thousand flowers
Between two pearly pillars; lavish folds
of sunset purple, garlsnded with roses, 4
Hung lightly pendant from beauteous arch
OF melted rainbow hues; and high above,
Where the mist arch dissolved into the stars,
In rosy letters of enameled gold,
These words, just feintly visible, traced:
TAis is BeuLah, The Fair Land Of Dreams!
so, for a magic wand |" spoke aloud
"That might enter this delightful land!"
Scarce had the words died on my painting lips,
When gently the soft purple folds were parted
By two young seraphs ro5ed in glittering gems,
And I, enchanted with one little glimpse,
Entess the Fairy World.
score of moons -
Rolled silvery pillows from a summer sky,
The Bird of Paradise, with colored plumes,
Flew like sailing cloud from flower to flower.
Drinking the honey of the almond buds,
And then in globules Of sweet, melting music
Pouringit out again. The very leaves
Of all the million blooms that dangled there
Gave tiny silver notes to the soft breeze
There were no little bees
T. To rob the blossoms OF their honey dew,
And every petal glisteued with its sweetness,
Fen some dropped honey on the waving grass,
But none was lost, for little fairies came
With tiny cups of golden tulip buds
And caught the sweet drops as they gided Oh.
And suddenly there burst upon my ear
The sound of many voices, small but sweet
Most ravishingly, exquisitely sweet.
"Surely," thought, this is no common day
Among the fairy spirits of Dreamland"
And pressing onward thro' the entangled blooms
l came to where silver fountain played
Beneath a messy knoll aud all around, -
In flowers of every hue, light nymphs reclined
And touched with dainty hands their golden harps
And tiny blue bells round the fountains rim
Chimed in wee tones the most exquisite notes.
While two sweet lays upon the moss knoll danced,
This was O wedding day
Among the little fairies of Dreamland
wandered on for hours, and thought if heaven
Were half so sweet as Dreamland 'twere enough
To spend eternity in prayer to gain.
Lspied vale beyond billowy slope
Thick with the snow of fragrant orange buds,
Wherein bower of most bewitching beauty
Wooed the soft moonlight to more calm repose.
"Thither," l thought, 1.-THE beauties all retreat
When weary with their playful wandering"
moment more, and in the magic bower
laid me down upon the green, soft grass
And listning to the songs ofstrange, bright birds,
1 closed my eyes and sighed dreamy wish
That might die. Just then voice
Among the leaves above called me by name
oped my eyes, and these strange, tender words
Came floating down in fute-like MELODY:
Weary, weary, weary mortal,
have heard your sigh
Do you wish to pass the portal
OF Eternity-to dIep
Weary, weary, weary mortal,
Do you wish to go
To the spirit Of your Agnes,
To the Agnes that you loved
Long ago?
Still she loves you'll
Will you be
Her lover still,
In purity?
Weary, weary, weary mortal,
See, behold you pass the portal
Of Eternity
You are with your loving Agnes,
With the Agnes that you loved
Long agol
The green leaves parted and an angel face
Smiled sweetly on me 1T was my lost lovel
And in q moment more her starry wings
Were folded by my side, and bending DOWN
She pressed kiss upon my lips. cried:
"ohl Agnes, Agnes! darling, angel. Agnesr'
Alas alas all this was but dream
! woke to find that but one moon was shining,
And that half hidden by a murky cloud
O. earth earth earth