King Solomon's Temple.

KING SOLOMON'S TEMPLE .

A POEM . Freemasonry has a good many prose-y writers , Ave feel inclined to say , but very feiv poetic . We , therefore , gladly hail , especially from the far West , and across

the " dividing waters of the Atlantic , " as they are poetically termed , what our energetic Bro . Tweddell , of Stokesley , publishes as "The Great American Poem . " The Poem itself is Avritten by our Brother Augustine J . H . Dugamie of New York ,

and appeared in the American Freemason of July 15 , 1870 . As it does not seem to be known to the majority of our brethren , Ave think it well to call the attention of the

Craft to it to-day , the more so as our Bro . Tweddell has stated in the title page , that it may be fairly considered the "finest Masonic Poem , in the English language . " Who can say , but that some of our brethren may be stirred up , both by the

sympathy of imitation and admiration , to come forward as a representative of English Freemasonry in some most laudable poetic efforts , and obtain a high place in that long roll of writers , whose poetry still can charm ancl soften , ancl elevate , and gladden the

human imagination and the human heart . We have a sort of introduction in the poem in the folloAving stanza in the second part .

"In the dreams and the visions of fervent desire , I have mingled with Levite aud Priest ; With the widow ' s son Hiram , and Hiram of Tyre , Sitting down at meridian feast ; And beholding King Solomon's glory , Arising , like morn in the East ! With mine ancient brethren in "Masonry ' s craft- — When my soul the Lambskin

wore—I have stood by the mystical corner shaft , And knelt on the tesselate floor ; With the glorious roof of the Temple , Like Heaven's roof , arching me o ' er !" The lines Avhich MIOAV commend themselves alike to our traditional memories and

our poetic admiration . " To the ruler of Sidon—the lord of the seas—Flies the Avord of Jerusalem ' s king , Saying , : Bid thou thy servants that Lebanon's trees ,

To Jndean borders they bring ; And between us shall peace be alway , And blessing around us cling . From his wars and his sori-OAVs King David hath rest , And he sleeps under Salem ' s sod ; But , with trembling and aweat his high behest

, , I abide in the paths he trod ; And I build on the Mount of Bloriah A house to the Lord my God !' Then , from faraway forests of Lebanon come Great floats unto Joppa's strand ; And from Tyre and Sidon arises a hum ,

As of bees overswarming the land ; Audit s . veils through the Valley of Jordan , In chorals of industry grand ! Under manifold halos of column and arch , Through the soundless , courts and aisles , At the word of their Master the Craftsmen march To their labours , in lengthening files ; While the Temple arises before them , From portal to golden tiles !

From the echoeless earth , through the motionless - air , How that beautiful fabric upgrows ! From the heart of the King like a voiceless prayer , ' How it mounts in its fragrant repose ! Bearing upward King Solomon's Avorship , As incense ascends from the rose !

In their brass and then- silver , their marble and gold , All noiseless the Crafts have wrought . Till , in grandeur of silence , their works unfold , As with life everlasting fraught .

By the glow of the greater and lesser Light , And the power of the Master ' s Word — By the Plummet of Truth , and the level of Right , And the Square that hath never err'd—Through the work of a Master Mason , King Solomon ' s prayer Avas heard . At the fragrant morn ' neath the golden moon

, , And the eventide ' s hour of balm , All the hearts of his Craftsmen Avere lifted in tune , Like the mingling of harmonies calm- ; And the Temple arose on Moriah , A mighty Masonic Psalm !"

Bro . Dugamie , we think , very successfully noiv seeks to point the moral from the material building and its symbolical teaching . "Oh ! that Temple of God , from the house of the past ,

Shineth doAvn o ' er the centuried years ; And my hearVthrongh the veil of its mysteries vast , The voice of King Solomon hears , Asking me , with the sign of a Master , Why my soul no Temple rears ? With the Three Great Lights ever shining above , And the tools of my craft at hand , Why I build up no fabric of prayerful love , ' With the arch of a lifetime spann'd ; And the wings of embracing cherubs , Overbrooding its yearnings grand ?