Light
by J.B. Packard

Gently o’er the senses stealing,
Lute-like comes an unseen throng,
Spirits, waking each a feeling
With a birth-baptismal song.

Chalice held by fairy fingers,
Seems the soul–all brimming o’er–
‘Neath a fountain, still it lingers
Where the living waters pour.

Now, a mirror’s disc seemeth,
Far beneath a crystal flow,
Where the inner sun-light gleameth
As the bubbles upward go.

Beaming eye-light truly telleth,
In a language all its own,
That behind these glances dwelleth
Love, illuming pleasure’s throne.

I picked up a copy of The Spirit Minstrel; A Collection of Hymns And Music For The use of Spiritualists, In their Circles and Public Meetings by J. B. Packard and J.S. Loveland. There are some very interesting lyrics in this book, including the above lyric, which shows the “inner sun” of the Swedenborgians (and later of the Spiritualists) as a sun reflected in the water of a fountain. This same sun, of course, illuminated the Transcendentalists as well. This edition of the Minstrel was published by Bela Marsh, 14 Bromfield St., in Boston.