---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Naisbitt, H. W.
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 3
number: 1
published: 1899-11
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'Naisbitt, H. W., "A Reverie, a Poem," *Improvement Era* 3, no. 1 (November 1899): 9.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera31unse
  transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers.
  identifier: improvementera31unse
start_page: 9
end_page: 9
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1899-11)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera31unse
  publication_year: 1899
  note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1899, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# A Reverie, a Poem

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REVERIE.
                        BY H. W. NAISBITT.

I   linger 'mid the shadows flitting o'er this life's highway,
Its sunshine blinds   my vision, and I look too far away;
I   can stand the cloud or raindrops, or mists which hide from sight
Each winding curve my steps must take before 'tis truly night.

The mountain top, the widespread vales, have not that loving spell
Which quiet nook, and leafy lanes, and bounded vistas tell;
The little and the nearest-by, my soul with rapture thrill
Far more than landscapes spreading out, which unknown distance fill.

All detail fades, at sea, on land, excess is mind o'erthrown;
Mayhap 'tis great and grand in moods, uncoveted, unknown;
'Tis wealth, embarrassing— too much, for simple common
                                                       ken.

And soul shrinks from this mighty whole to meaner things of men.

In dreams of thought some see afar, dominions, thrones and kings;
They soar amid eternities, as if on seraph's wings;
I   only ask a humble place, a sphere within my reach,
To meet my duty day by day, and then its lessons teach.

This task, well done, will Heaven give, whate'er that bliss may be;
It may not be a crown or throne, where there is no
                                                    more sea;
But 't will be sweet in rest, or work, as He may think 'tis best,
And I shall love, I hope, His will, for I have proved it best.