Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, EXALTATION, by HILDA WHILT ARCHER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

EXALTATION, by                    
First Line: I climbed the glad hills near our friendly old town
Last Line: That I found 'mongst the silent ones, over the hill.
Subject(s): Montana; Mountains; Hills; Downs (great Britain)


I climbed the glad hills near our friendly old town,
And then on the wide, laughing waters looked down;
The mountains were towering to west and to east,
Long mine eyes on the heaven-lit grandeur did feast;
It was there in a vision I realized why
Pioneers sought Montana, to live and to die.
The spell that enticed was enticing me still,
As I sped to the silent ones, over the hill.

Most wild and most rugged, yet fair to the eye
Is the spot where the dead of our city do lie.
Oh, you loved, happy dead, 'tis a beautiful sleep,
Where the grass groweth high and the root runneth deep,
Where meadow lark answers the meadow lark's call,
And God's holy silence broods over it all.
I drank from the fountain of blessing my fill,

As I walked 'mongst the silent ones, over the hill.
Life's tumult and torment, life's pathos and pain,
Had vanished away, like the cloud after rain.
While the beauty of life and the glory of death
Engulfed and enfolded me, all in a breath.
Life's duties were calling, as homeward I trod,
But my soul was aflame with the wonder of God,
And the heart's exaltation abides with me still,
That I found 'mongst the silent ones, over the hill.





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