Upon a Midnight

Look now! For glad and golden hours Come swiftly on the wing.--Edmund Sears

As one who climbs a winding stair to find,

at top, a secret door--a hidden way

into a world of light, another kind

of sky, brighter than all earth's brightest days;

or one who walks a narrow road that leads

to more, and still more, barren ways, who sees

at last a fertile field, with blooms and seeds

of living hope, and rest in grass and trees;

as those who toil each day alone, shrouded

in shadow, who finally feel a touch

of heavenly heat upon the crowded

street--a spark of humanity's love. Such

we find beyond the door, around the bend:

hope delivered in the hand of a friend.