I went heavily for cares, and fell into the trance of sorrow; And behold, a vision in my trance, and my ministering angel brought it. There stood a mountain huge and steep, the awful Rock of Ages; The sun upon its summit, and storms midway, and deep ravines at foot. And, as I looked, a dense black cloud, suddenly dropping from the thunder, Filled, like a cataract with yeasty foam, a narrow smiling valley: Close and hard that vaporous mass seemed to press the ground, And lamentable sounds came up, as of some that were smothering beneath. Then, as I walked upon the mountain, clear in summer's noon, For charity I called aloud, Ho! climb up hither to the sunshine. And even like a stream of light my voice had pierced the mist; I saw below two families of men, and knew their names of old: Courage, struggling through the darkness, stout of heart and gladsome, Ran up the shining ladder which the voice of Hope had made; And tripping lightly by his side, a sweet-eyed helpmate with him, I looked upon her face to welcome pleasant Cheerfulness; And a babe was cradled in her bosom, a laughing little prattler, The child of Cheerfulness and Courage,--could his name be other than Success? So, from his happy wife, when they both stood beside me on the mountain, The fond father took that babe, and set him on his shoulder in the sunshine. Again I peered into the valley, for I heard a gasping moan, A desolate weak cry, as muffled in the vapours. So down that crystal shaft into the poisonous mine I sped for charity to seek and save,--and those I sought fled from me. At length, I spied, far distant, a trembling withered dwarf Who crouched beneath the cloak of a tall and spectral mourner: Then I knew Cowardice and Gloom, and followed them on in darkness, Guided by their rustling robes and moans and muffled cries, Until in a suffocating pit the wretched pair had perished,-- And lo, their whitening bones were shaping out an epitaph of Failure. So I saw that despondency was death, and flung my burdens from me, And, lightened by that effort, I was raised above the world; Yea, in the strangeness of my vision, I seemed to soar on wings, And the names they called my wings were Cheerfulness and Wisdom. OF YESTERDAY.