Through The Valley

As I came through the Valley of Despair,

As I came through the valley, on my sight,

More awful than the darkness of the night,

Shone glimpses of a Past that had been fair,

And memories of eyes that used to smile,

And wafts of perfume from a vanished isle,

As I came through the valley.

As I came through the valley I could see,

As I came through the valley, fair and far,

As drowning men look up and see a star,

The fading shore of my lost Used-to-be;

And like an arrow in my heart I heard

The last sad notes of Hope's expiring bird,

As I came through the valley.

As I came through the valley desolate,

As I came through the valley, like a beam

Of lurid lightning I beheld a gleam

Of Love's great eyes that now were full of hate.

Dear God! Dear God! I could bear all but that;

But I fell down soul-stricken, dead, thereat,

As I came through the valley.