A DAY REDEEMED.

By William Mackay MacKeracher

I rose, and idly sauntered to the pane,

And on the March-bleak mountain bent my look;

And standing there a sad review I took

Of what the day had brought me. What the gain

To Wisdom's store? What holds had Knowledge ta'en?

I mused upon the lightly-handled book,

The erring thought, and felt a stern rebuke:

“Alas, alas! the day hath been in vain!”

But as I gazed upon the upper blue,

With many a twining jasper ridge up-ploughed,

Sudden, up-soaring, swung upon my view

A molten, rolling, sunset-laden cloud:

My spirit stood, and caught its glorious hue —

“Not lost the day!” it, leaping, cried aloud.