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diff --git a/13809-h/13809-h.htm b/13809-h/13809-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d1e088d --- /dev/null +++ b/13809-h/13809-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3569 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= + "text/html; charset=UTF-8"> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Mountain Idylls, by Alfred Castner King. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding-left: 1em; font-size: smaller; float: right; clear: right;} + .subhead {text-align: center} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i1 {display: block; margin-left: 1em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + .poem span.i5 {display: block; margin-left: 5em;} + .poem span.i10 {display: block; margin-left: 10em;} + .poem span.i12 {display: block; margin-left: 12em;} + .poem span.i18 {display: block; margin-left: 18em;} + .poem span.i25 {display: block; margin-left: 25em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em;} + .poem span.i7 {display: block; margin-left: 7em;} + .poem span.i8 {display: block; margin-left: 8em;} + .poem span.i9 {display: block; margin-left: 9em;} + .poem .caesura {vertical-align: -200%;} + + .figure { + text-align: center; + font-size: smaller; + } + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13809 ***</div> + +<br /> +<div class="figure"> +<a name='frontis'></a><img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt="A.C. KING"> +<h4>A.C. KING</h4> +</div> +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> + +<h1>Mountain Idylls<br> +and Other Poems</h1> + + +<h3>BY</h3> +<h2>ALFRED CASTNER KING</h2> +<br /> + +<div class='subhead'>CHICAGO: NEW YORK: TORONTO<br> +Fleming H. Revell Company<br> +LONDON <i>and</i> EDINBURGH</div> +<br /> + + +<div class='subhead'>1901 <br> +FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY<br> +MAY</div><br> + + +<div class='subhead'>New York: 158 Fifth Avenue<br> +Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave.<br> +London: 21 Paternoster Square<br> +Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street</div> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> + +<h4>TO THE MANY FRIENDS WHO HAVE SO<br> +KINDLY ASSISTED IN THE ARRANGEMENT<br> +OF THE MANUSCRIPTS FOR<br> +PUBLICATION, AFTER THE SHADOWS<br> +OF HOPELESS BLINDNESS DESCENDED<br> +UPON ME FOREVER, THIS VOLUME<br> +IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED</h4> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> + +<h2><b>Table of Contents.</b></h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> + <a href='#PREFACE'><b>Preface</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Grandeur'><b>Grandeur</b> </a><br /> + <a href='#Natures_Child'><b>Nature's Child</b> </a><br /> + <a href='#To_the_Pines'><b>To the Pines</b> </a><br /> + <a href='#Reflections'><b>Reflections</b> </a><br /> + <a href='#Lifes_Mystery'><b>Life's Mystery</b> </a><br /> + <a href='#The_Fallen_Tree'><b>The Fallen Tree</b> </a><br /> + <a href='#There_Is_an_Air_of_Majesty'><b>There is an Air of Majesty</b> </a><br /> + <a href='#Think_Not_That_the_Heart_Is_Devoid_of_Emotion'><b>Think Not That the Heart Is Devoid of Emotion</b> </a><br /> + <a href='#Humanitys_Stream'><b>Humanity's Stream</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Natures_Lullaby'><b>Nature's Lullaby</b> </a><br /> + <a href='#The_Spirit_of_freedom_is_Born_of_the_Mountains'><b>The Spirit of freedom is Born of the Mountains</b></a><br /> + <a href='#The_Valley_of_the_San_Miguel'><b>The Valley of the San Miguel</b></a><br /> + <a href='#To_Mother_Huberta'><b>To Mother Huberta</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Suggested_by_a_Mountain_Eagle'><b>Suggested by a Mountain Eagle</b></a><br /> + <a href='#The_Silvery_San_Juan'><b>The Silvery San Juan</b> </a><br /> + <a href='#As_the_Shifting_Sands_of_the_Desert'><b>As the Shifting Sands of the Desert</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Missed'><b>Missed</b></a><br /> + <a href='#If_I_Have_Lived_Before'><b>If I Have Lived Before</b></a><br /> + <a href='#The_Darker_Side'><b>The Darker Side</b></a><br /> + <a href='#The_Miner'><b>The Miner</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Lifes_Undercurrent'><b>Life's Undercurrent</b></a><br /> + <a href='#They_Cannot_See_the_Wreaths_We_Place'><b>They Cannot See the Wreaths We Place</b></a><br /> + <a href='#MothermdashAlpha_and_Omega'><b>Mother—Alpha and Omega</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Empty_are_the_Mothers_Arms'><b>Empty are the Mother's Arms</b></a><br /> + <a href='#In_Deo_Fides'><b>In Deo Fides</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Shall_Love_as_the_Bridal_Wreath_Whither_and_Die'><b>Shall Love, as the Bridal Wreath, Whither and Die?</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Shall_Our_Memories_Live_When_the_Sod_Rolls_Above_Us'><b>Shall Our Memories Live When the Sod Rolls Above Us?</b></a><br /> + <a href='#A_Reverie'><b>A Reverie</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Loves_Plea'><b>Love's Plea</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Ashes_to_Ashes_Dust_to_Dust'><b>Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Despair'><b>Despair</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Hidden_Sorrows'><b>Hidden Sorrows</b></a><br /> + <a href='#O_A_Beautiful_Thing_is_the_Flower_That_Fadeth'><b>O, a Beautiful Thing Is the Flower That Fadeth!</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Smiles'><b>Smiles</b></a><br /> + <a href='#A_Request'><b>A Request</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Battle_Hymn'><b>Battle Hymn</b></a><br /> + <a href='#The_Nations_Peril'><b>The Nations Peril</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Echoes_from_Galilee'><b>Echoes from Galilee</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Go_And_Sin_No_More'><b>Go, And Sin No More</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Gently_Lead_Me_Star_Divine'><b>Gently Lead Me, Star Divine</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Dying_Hymn'><b>Dying Hymn</b></a><br /> + <a href='#In_Mortem_Meditare'><b>In Mortem Meditare</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Deprive_This_Strange_and_Complex_World'><b>Deprive This Strange and Complex World</b></a><br /> + <a href='#The_Legend_of_St_Regimund'><b>The Legend of St. Regimund</b></a><br /> + <a href='#As_The_Indian'><b>As The Indian</b></a><br /> + <a href='#The_Fragrant_Perfume_of_the_Flowers'><b>The Fragrant Perfume of the Flowers</b></a><br /> + <a href='#An_Answer'><b>An Answer</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Fame'><b>Fame</b></a><br /> + <a href='#The_First_Storm'><b>The First Storm</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Thoughts'><b>Thoughts</b></a><br /> + <a href='#From_A_Saxon_Legend'><b>From A Saxon Legend</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Christmas_Chimes'><b>Christmas Chimes</b></a><br /> + <a href='#The_Unknowable'><b>The Unknowable</b></a><br /> + <a href='#The_Suicide'><b>The Suicide</b></a><br /> + <a href='#I_Think_When_I_Stand_In_The_Presence_of_Death'><b>I Think When I Stand in the Presence of Death</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Hope'><b>Hope</b></a><br /> + <a href='#Metabole'><b>Metabole</b></a><br /> + + +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='List_of_Illustrations'></a><h2><b>List of Illustrations.</b> </h2> +<br /> + +<p><a href="#frontis">Portrait of Author</a></p> +<p><a href="#007">"Grandeur"</a></p> +<p><a href="#011">Mount Wilson</a></p> +<p><a href="#012">Mountain View in San Juan</a></p> +<p><a href="#014">Scene in Ouray</a></p> +<p><a href="#016">Uncompahgre Cañon</a></p> +<p><a href="#018">Mountain Scene in San Juan</a></p> +<p><a href="#021">Emerald Lake</a></p> +<p><a href="#026">Scene near Telluride</a></p> +<p><a href="#032">Bridal Veil Falls</a></p> +<p><a href="#034">Lizard Head</a></p> +<p><a href="#038">Trout Lake</a></p> +<p><a href="#040">Box Cañon Looking Inward</a></p> +<p><a href="#042">Ouray, Colorado</a></p> +<p><a href="#048">Box Cañon Looking Outward</a></p> +<p><a href="#060">Ironton Park</a></p> +<p><a href="#076">Bear Creek Falls</a></p> +<br /> + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<div class="figure"> +<a name='007'></a><img src="images/007.jpg" alt="A wilderness of weird fantastic shapes."> +<h4><a href='#a_wilderness'>"A wilderness of weird fantastic shapes."</a></h4> +</div> + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='PREFACE'></a><h2>PREFACE</h2> + +<p><i>"Of making many books there is no end."—Eccles. 12:12.</i></p> +<br /> + +<p>When the above words were written by Solomon, King of Israel, about +three thousand years ago, they were possibly inspired by the existence +even at that early period of an extensive and probably overweighted +literature.</p> + +<p>The same literary conditions are as true to-day as when the above truism +emanated from that most wonderful of all human intellects. Every age and +generation, as well as every changing religious or political condition, +has brought with it its own peculiar and essentially differing current +literature, which, as a rule, continued a brief season, and then +vanished, perishing with the age and conditions which called it into +being; leaving, however, an occasional volume, masterpiece, or even +quotation, to become classic, and in the form of standard literature +survive for generations, and in many instances for ages.</p> + +<p>Poetry has always occupied a unique position in literature; and though +from a pecuniary stand-point usually unprofitable, it enjoys the decided +advantage of longevity.</p> + +<p>The mysterious ages of antiquity have bequeathed to all succeeding time +several of earth's noblest epics, while the contemporaneous prose, if +any existed, has long lain buried in the inscrutable archives of the +remote past.</p> + +<p>The two most notable of these, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are believed +to have been transmitted from generation to generation, orally, by the +minstrels and minnisingers, until the introduction or inception of the +Greek alphabet, when they were reduced to parchment, and, surviving all +the vicissitudes of time and sequent political and religious change, +still occupy a prominent place in literature.</p> + +<p>The Book of Job, generally accepted as the most ancient of writings, now +extant, whether sacred or secular, was doubtless originally a primitive +though sublime poetical effusion.</p> + +<p>The prose works contemporaneous with Chaucer, Spencer, and even with +that most wonderful of literary epochs, the Elizabethan age, are now +practically obsolete, while the poetical efforts remain in some +instances with increased prominence.</p> + +<p>Someone, (although just who is difficult to determine,—though it savors +of the Greek School of Philosophy,—)has delivered the following +injunction: "Do right because it is right, not from fear of punishment +or hope of reward." Waiving the question as to whether it is right or +not to compose poetry, he who aspires in that direction can reasonably +expect no material recompense, though the experience of Dante, +Cervantes, Leigh Hunt, and others, proves conclusively that poets do not +always escape punishment. In fact, about the only emolument to be +expected is the gratification of an inherent and indefinable impulse, +which impels one to the task with equal force, whether the ultimate +result be affluence or a dungeon.</p> + +<p>The author of this unpretentious volume has long questioned the +advisability of adding a book to our already inflated and overloaded +literature, unless it should contain something in the nature of a +deviation from beaten literary paths.</p> + +<p>Whether the reading public will regard this as such or not is a question +for the future to determine, as every book is a creature of +circumstance, and at the date of its publication an algebraic unknown +quantity.</p> + +<p>It was not the original intention of the author to publish any of his +effusions in collective form until more mature years and riper judgment +should better qualify him for the task of composition, and should enable +him to still further pursue the important studies of etymology, +rhetoric, Latin and Greek, and complete the education which youthful +environment denied.</p> + +<p>On the 17th of March, A.D. 1900, occurred an accident in the form of a +premature mining explosion which banished the light of the Colorado sun +from his eyes forever, adding the almost insurmountable barrier of +total and hopeless blindness to those of limited means and insufficient +education. At first further effort seemed useless, but as time +meliorates in some degree even the most deplorable and distressing +physical conditions, ambition slowly rallied, and while lying for +several months a patient in various hospitals in an ineffectual attempt +to regain even partial sight, the following ideas and efforts of past +years were gradually recalled from the recesses of memory, and reduced +to their present form, in which, with no small hesitation and misgiving, +they are presented to the consideration of the reading public, which in +the humble opinion of the author has frequently failed to receive and +appreciate productions of vastly superior merit.</p> + +<p><i>Ouray, Colorado, March 15, 1901.</i></p> +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<div class="figure"> +<a name='011'></a><img src="images/011.jpg" alt="MOUNT WILSON."> +<h4><a href='#I_stood'>"I stood at sunrise on the topmost part,<br> +<span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Of lofty mountain, massively sublime."</span></a><br><br> +MOUNT WILSON, SAN MIGUEL COUNTY, COLORADO.</h4> +</div> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<h2><b>Mountain Idylls and Other Poems</b> </h2> + + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<a name='Grandeur'></a><h2><b>Grandeur.</b> </h2> + +<p>Dedicated to the mountains of the San Juan district, Colorado, as seen +from the summit of Mt. Wilson.</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span><a name="I_stood"></a>I stood at sunrise, on the topmost part<br /></span> +<span>Of lofty mountain, massively sublime;<br /></span> +<span>A pinnacle of trachyte, seamed and scarred<br /></span> +<span>By countless generations' ceaseless war<br /></span> +<span>And struggle with the restless elements;<br /></span> +<span>A rugged point, which shot into the air,<br /></span> +<span>As by ambition or desire impelled<br /></span> +<span>To pierce the eternal precincts of the sky.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i9'>Below, outspread,<br /></span> +<span>A scene of such terrific grandeur lay<br /></span> +<span>That reeled the brain at what the eyes beheld;<br /></span> +<span>The hands would clench involuntarily<br /></span> +<span>And clutch from intuition for support;<br /></span> +<span>The eyes by instinct closed, nor dared to gaze<br /></span> +<span>On such an awful and inspiring sight.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The sun arose with bright transcendent ray,<br /></span> +<span>Up from behind a bleak and barren reef;<br /></span> +<span>His face resplendent with beatitude,<br /></span> +<span>Solar effulgence and combustive gleam;<br /></span> +<span>Bathing the scene in such a wealth of light<br /></span> +<span>That none could marvel that primeval man,<br /></span> +<span>Rude and untaught, whene'er the sun appeared,<br /></span> +<span>Fell down and worshiped.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span><a name='a_wilderness'></a>A wilderness of weird, fantastic shapes,<br /></span> +<span>Of precipice and stern declivity;<br /></span> +<span>Of dizzy heights, and towering minarets;<br /></span> +<span>Colossal columns and basaltic spires<br /></span> +<span>Which pointing heavenward, appeared to wave<br /></span> +<span>In benediction o'er the depths beneath.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Uneven crags and cliffs of various form;<br /></span> +<span>Abysmal depths, and dire profundities;<br /></span> +<span>Chasms so deep and awful that the eye<br /></span> +<span>Of soaring eagle dare not gaze below,<br /></span> +<span>Lest, dizzied, he should lose his aerial poise,<br /></span> +<span>And headlong falling, reach the gulf beneath.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span><a name="Majestic_turrets"></a>Majestic turrets, and the stately dome<br /></span> +<span>Which, ovaled by the slow but tireless hand<br /></span> +<span>Of eons of disintegrating time,<br /></span> +<span>Still with impressive aspect rears its brow<br /></span> +<span>Defiant of mutation and decay.<br /></span> +</div></div><br> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name='012'></a><img src="images/012.jpg" alt="MOUNTAIN VIEW."> +<h4><a href='#Majestic_turrets'>"Majestic turrets and the stately dome."</a><br><br> +MOUNTAIN VIEW, SAN JUAN, COLORADO.</h4> +</div><br> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>The crevice deep and inaccessible;<br /></span> +<span>Fissure and rent, where the intrusive dike's<br /></span> +<span>Creative and destructive agency<br /></span> +<span>Leaves many an enduring monument<br /></span> +<span>Of metamorphic and eruptive power;<br /></span> +<span>Of molten deluge, and volcanic flood;<br /></span> +<span>Fracture and break, the silent stories tell<br /></span> +<span>Of dire convulsion in the ages past;<br /></span> +<span>Of subterranean catastrophe,<br /></span> +<span>And cataclysm of internal force.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span><a name="The_trachyte"></a>The trachyte wall, beseamed and battle scarred;<br /></span> +<span>The porphyritic tower and citadel;<br /></span> +<span>The granite ramparts and embattlements<br /></span> +<span>Of nature's fort, impregnable and wild,<br /></span> +<span>Stand as a symbol of eternal strength,<br /></span> +<span>And hurl a challenge to the elements!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Cañons of startling and appalling depths,<br /></span> +<span>With caverns, vast and gloomy, which would seem<br /></span> +<span>Meet for the haunt of centaur or of gnome;<br /></span> +<span>The gorgon and the labyrinthodon;<br /></span> +<span>The clumsy mammoth and the dinosaur;<br /></span> +<span>Or all gigantic and unwieldy shapes<br /></span> +<span>Which earth has seen in the mysterious past,<br /></span> +<span><a name="Would_seem"></a>Would seem in more accord and harmony<br /></span> +<span>With such surroundings than the puny form<br /></span> +<span>Of insignificant, conceited man.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>And interspersed amid these solemn peaks<br /></span> +<span>Lie many a pleasant vale and grassy slope,<br /></span> +<span>Besprinkled with the drooping columbine,<br /></span> +<span>And fragrant growths of all harmonious tints,<br /></span> +<span>Whose variegated colors punctuate<br /></span> +<span>Grandeur with beauty, and fearless, bloom<br /></span> +<span>In the forbidding shadow of the cliffs,<br /></span> +<span>And to the margin of the snowy combs<br /></span> +<span>Which still resist the sun's persuasive ray.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>A lakelet, cool, pellucid and serene,<br /></span> +<span>Fed by the drippings from eternal snows,<br /></span> +<span>Lies like a mirror 'neath a frowning cliff,<br /></span> +<span>Or as a gem, majestically ensconced<br /></span> +<span>In diadem of crag and pinnacle.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Down towards the distant valley's sultry clime,<br /></span> +<span><a name="Both_solitary"></a>Both solitary, and in straggling groups;<br /></span> +<span>In solid phalanx, rigid and compact;<br /></span> +<span>In labyrinth of branches interspread,<br /></span> +<span>Impervious to the rain and midday sun;<br /></span> +<span>In form spontaneous, without regard<br /></span> +<span>To law of uniformity, there stand<br /></span> +<span>In silent awe, or whispering to the breeze,<br /></span> +<span>The sombre fir and melancholy pine.<br /></span> +<span>And many a denuded avenue<br /></span> +<span>Of varying and considerable width,<br /></span> +<span>Cut through the growth of balsam, spruce and pine,<br /></span> +<span>Which stands erect and proud on either hand,<br /></span> +<span>Attests the swift and desolating force<br /></span> +<span>Of fearful, devastating avalanche.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br><div class="figure"> +<a name='014'></a><img src="images/014.jpg" alt="SCENE IN OURAY."> +<h4><a href='#The_trachyte'> "The trachyte wall beseamed and battle scarred."</a><br><br> +SCENE IN OURAY COUNTY, COLORADO.</h4> +</div><br> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>The mountain rill its pleasant music makes,<br /></span> +<span>As the descendant waters roll along,<br /></span> +<span>In rhythmic flow and dulcet cantabile,<br /></span> +<span>In various concord and harmonious pitch,<br /></span> +<span>Pursuant of its journey to the sea;<br /></span> +<span>The murmuring treble of the rivulet,<br /></span> +<span>Uniting with the deep and ponderous bass<br /></span> +<span>Of torrent wild and foaming cataract;<br /></span> +<span>The thunderous, reverberating tones<br /></span> +<span>And seething ebullition of the falls<br /></span> +<span>Are blended in one grand euphonious chord.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Far in the hazy distance, as the eye<br /></span> +<span>With vague perceptive vision penetrates,<br /></span> +<span>Lie the vast mesas of ethereal hue,<br /></span> +<span>Stretched in a calm and sleepy quietude,<br /></span> +<span>Dreamy repose and blue tranquillity;<br /></span> +<span>The eye which rests upon the drowsy scene<br /></span> +<span>Beholds a dim horizon, which presents<br /></span> +<span>No line of demarcation or of bounds;<br /></span> +<span>A merging union, blurred and indistinct;<br /></span> +<span>Fuliginous confusion, that the eye<br /></span> +<span>In viewing gazes, but no more discerns<br /></span> +<span>Which is the earth, and which the azure sky.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i5'>But mark the change!<br /></span> +<span>A cloud, which floated in the atmosphere,<br /></span> +<span>An inconsiderable and feathery speck<br /></span> +<span>Of no proportions, now augmented, wears<br /></span> +<span>A threatening aspect, ominously dark;<br /></span> +<span>Enveloping the heaven's canopy<br /></span> +<span>In lowering shadow and portentous gloom;<br /></span> +<span>In pall of ambient obscurity.<br /></span> +<span>The fork-ed lightnings ramify and play<br /></span> +<span>Upon a background of sepulchral black;<br /></span> +<span>The growling thunders rumble a reply<br /></span> +<span>Of detonation awful and profound,<br /></span> +<span>To every corruscation's vivid gleam;<br /></span> +<span>In deep crescendo and fortissimo,<br /></span> +<span>In quavering tremolo and stately fugue<br /></span> +<span>Echoes, reverberates and dies away!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>But soon the sun, with smiling radiance,<br /></span> +<span>Through orifice, through rift and aperture,<br /></span> +<span>Invades the storm, and dissipates the clouds,<br /></span> +<span>Which scatter, cowering and ephemeral,<br /></span> +<span>Hugging the cliffs, and o'er the dire abyss<br /></span> +<span>Hover, in fleecy, ever changing form,<br /></span> +<span>And in a transient season disappear;<br /></span> +<span>Vanish, as man must vanish, and are gone.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The moist precipitation of the storm<br /></span> +<span>Revives, refreshes and invigorates<br /></span> +<span>The various vegetation, and bedews<br /></span> +<span>Each blade of grass and floweret with a tear;<br /></span> +<span>As nature, weeping o'er the faults of man.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br><div class="figure"> +<a name='016'></a><img src="images/016.jpg" alt="UNCOMPAHGRE CANYON."> +<h4><a href='#Would_seem'>"Would seem in more accord and harmony,<br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>With such surroundings than the puny form</span><br /> +Of insignificant, conceited man."</a><br><br> +UNCOMPAHGRE CAÑON, NEAR OURAY, COLORADO.</h4> +</div><br> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>The day recedes, and twilight's neutral shade<br /></span> +<span>Succeeds in turn, and ushers in the night,<br /></span> +<span>Whose wings, outstretched and shadowy, descend,<br /></span> +<span>And in nocturnal mantle robes the scene.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>A hush prevails! Oppressive and profound;<br /></span> +<span>A silence, broken only by the breeze;<br /></span> +<span>A dormant quiet-essence and repose;<br /></span> +<span>Pervading calm and sweet oblivion,—<br /></span> +<span>As nature wrapt in soft refreshing sleep.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Far in the east a solitary star<br /></span> +<span>Peeps through the sombre curtain of the night—<br /></span> +<span>In hesitating dubitation burns;<br /></span> +<span>In lonely splendor, flashes for a time,<br /></span> +<span>Till scattering celestial lights appear,—<br /></span> +<span>The vanguard of an astral multitude<br /></span> +<span>Of constellations, jewelled and serene,<br /></span> +<span>Which fill the lofty dome of space, until<br /></span> +<span>The heavens sparkle with the myriad<br /></span> +<span>Of spectra, nebulae and satellite;<br /></span> +<span>With stellar scintillation, and the orbs<br /></span> +<span>Of less refulgence, which, reflective shine;<br /></span> +<span>With falling star and trailing meteor;<br /></span> +<span>In one grand culmination, glittering<br /></span> +<span>To their Creator's glory!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>A burst of mellow lunar radiance<br /></span> +<span>Inundates and illuminates the scene;<br /></span> +<span>The waxing moon, in her meridian full,<br /></span> +<span>Her beam vicarious disseminates,<br /></span> +<span>And shining, hides with her superior light,<br /></span> +<span>The twinkling beauty of the firmament!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>At the stupendous and inspiring sight<br /></span> +<span>Of cosmic grandeur of the universe,<br /></span> +<span>A sense of vague and overwhelming awe;<br /></span> +<span>Of inconceivable immensity,<br /></span> +<span>The being's inmost recess permeates;<br /></span> +<span>And man, the atom in comparison,<br /></span> +<span>In spellbound admiration, mutely stands;<br /></span> +<span>With speculative meditation, dwells<br /></span> +<span>On that most solemn of impressive thoughts,<br /></span> +<span>The goodness of the Deity to man!<a name='FNanchor_A_1'></a><a href='#Footnote_A_1'><sup>[A]</sup></a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br><div class="figure"> +<a name='018'></a><img src="images/018.jpg" alt="MOUNTAIN SCENE."> +<h4><a href='#Both_solitary'>"Both solitary and in straggling groups;<br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>In solid phalanx, rigid and compact."</span></a><br /><br><br> +MOUNTAIN SCENE, SAN JUAN COUNTY, COLORADO.</h4> +</div><br> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_A_1'></a><a href='#FNanchor_A_1'>[A]</a><div class='note'><p> Composed at St. Anthony's hospital, Denver, Colo., from whence the +author was led hopelessly blind.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Natures_Child'></a><h2><b>Nature's Child.</b> </h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>I love to tread the solitudes,<br /></span> +<span>The forests and the trackless woods,<br /></span> +<span>Where nature, undisturbed by man,<br /></span> +<span>Pursues her voluntary plan.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span><a name="Where_natures"></a>Where nature's chemistry distills<br /></span> +<span>The fountains and the laughing rills,<br /></span> +<span>I love to quaff her sparkling wine,<br /></span> +<span>And breathe the fragrance of the pine.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>I love to dash the crystal dews<br /></span> +<span>From floral shapes of varied hues,<br /></span> +<span>And interweave the modest white<br /></span> +<span>Of columbine in garlands bright.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>I love to lie within the shade,<br /></span> +<span>On grassy couch, by nature made,<br /></span> +<span>And listen to the warbling notes<br /></span> +<span>From her fair songsters' feathered throats.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>And freed from artificial wants,<br /></span> +<span>I love to dwell in nature's haunts,<br /></span> +<span><a name="And_by_the_mountain"></a>And by the mountain's crystal lake<br /></span> +<span>A rustic habitation make.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>I love to scale the mountain height<br /></span> +<span>And watch the eagle in his flight,<br /></span> +<span>Or gaze upon the azure sea<br /></span> +<span>Of aerial immensity.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>I love the busy marts of trade,<br /></span> +<span>I love the things which men have made,<br /></span> +<span>Though man has charms, none such as these,<br /></span> +<span>In him the child of nature sees.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='To_the_Pines'></a><h2><b>To the Pines.</b> </h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Ye sad musicians of the wood,<br /></span> +<span>Whose dirges fill the solitude,<br /></span> +<span>Whose minor strains and melodies<br /></span> +<span>Are wafted on the whispering breeze,<br /></span> +<span>Whose plaintive chants and listless sighs,<br /></span> +<span>Ascend as incense to the skies;<br /></span> +<span>Do solemn tones afford relief,<br /></span> +<span>With you, as men, a vent for grief?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br><div class="figure"> +<a name='021'></a><img src="images/021.jpg" alt="EMERALD LAKE."> +<h4><a href='#Inverted_in'>"Inverted in fantastic form,<br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Below the water line."</span></a><br /><br><br> +EMERALD LAKE, SAN MIGUEL COUNTY, COLORADO.</h4> +</div><br> + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Reflections'></a><h2><b>Reflections.</b> </h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>On the margin of a lakelet,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>In a rugged mountain clime,<br /></span> +<span>Where precipice and pinnacle<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of countenance sublime,<br /></span> +<span>Cast their weird, austere reflections<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>In the water's glistening sheen,<br /></span> +<span>I strolled in contemplative mood,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Both pensive and serene.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>As in a crystal mirror,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>In that lakelet's placid face,<br /></span> +<span>I saw the mountains upside down,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>With all their pristine grace;<br /></span> +<span>I saw each cliff and point of rocks,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>I saw the stately pine,<br /></span> +<span><a name="Inverted_in"></a>Inverted in fantastic form<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Below the water line.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>I paused in admiration;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And with calm complacency<br /></span> +<span>I marveled at this photograph<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>From nature's gallery;<br /></span> +<span>And as my eyes surveyed the scene<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>With solemn grandeur fraught,<br /></span> +<span>This simile flashed through my mind<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As instantly as thought:<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>As the stern, majestic mountains,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Without error or mistake,<br /></span> +<span>Were reflected in the bosom<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of that cool, pellucid lake,<br /></span> +<span>So our every thought and action,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Be it deed of hate or love,<br /></span> +<span>May be photographed in record<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>In that gallery above.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Lifes_Mystery'></a><h2><b>Life's Mystery.</b> </h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>I live, I move, I know not how, nor why,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Float as a transient bubble on the air,<br /></span> +<span>As fades the eventide I, too, must die;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>I came, I know not whence; I journey, where?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='The_Fallen_Tree'></a><h2><b>The Fallen Tree.</b> </h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>I passed along a mountain road,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Which led me through a wooded glen,<br /></span> +<span>Remote from dwelling or abode<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And ordinary haunts of men;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And wearied from the dust and heat.<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Beneath a tree, I found a seat.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The tree, a tall majestic spruce,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Which had, perhaps for centuries,<br /></span> +<span>Withstood, without a moment's truce,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The wing-ed warfare of the breeze;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>A monarch of the solitude,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Which well might grace the noblest wood.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Beneath its cool and welcome shade,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Protected from the noontide rays,<br /></span> +<span>The birds amid its branches played<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And caroled forth their twittering praise;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>A squirrel perched upon a limb<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And chattered with loquacious vim.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>E'er yet that selfsame week had sped,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>On my return, I sought its shade;<br /></span> +<span>But where it reared its form, instead;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>A fallen monarch I surveyed,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Prostrate and broken on the ground,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Nor longer cast its shade around.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Uprooted and disheveled, there<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The monarch of the forest lay;<br /></span> +<span>As if in desolate despair<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Its last resistance fell away,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And overwhelmed, in evil hour<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Went down before the tempest's power.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Such are the final works of fate;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The birds to other branches flew;<br /></span> +<span>And man, whatever his estate,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Must face that same mutation, too!<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>To-day, I stand erect and tall,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The morrow—may record my fall.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='There_Is_an_Air_of_Majesty'></a><h2><b>There is an Air of Majesty.</b> </h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>There is an air of majesty,<br /></span> +<span>A bearing dignified and free,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>About the mountain peaks;<br /></span> +<span>Each crag of weather-beaten stone<br /></span> +<span>Presents a grandeur of its own<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>To him who seeks.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>There is a proud, defiant mein,<br /></span> +<span>Expressive, stern, and yet serene,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>About the precipice;<br /></span> +<span>Whose rugged form looks grimly down,<br /></span> +<span>And answers, with an austere frown<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>The sunlight's kiss.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The mountain, with the snow bank crowned;<br /></span> +<span>The gorge, abysmal and profound;<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>Impress with aspect grand:<br /></span> +<span>With unfeigned reverence I see<br /></span> +<span>In canon and declivity<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>The All-Wise Hand.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Think_Not_That_the_Heart_Is_Devoid_of_Emotion'></a><h2><b>Think Not that the Heart is Devoid of Emotion.</b> </h2> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Think not that the heart is devoid of emotion,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Because of a countenance rugged and stern,<br /></span> +<span>The bosom may hide the most fervent devotion,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As shadowy forests hide floweret and fern;<br /></span> +<span>As the pearls which are down in the depths of the ocean,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The heart may have treasures which few can discern.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Think not the heart barren, because no reflection<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Is flashed from the depths of its secret embrace;<br /></span> +<span>External appearance may baffle detection,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And yet the heart beat with an ethical grace:<br /></span> +<span>The breast may be charged with the truest affection<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And never betray it by action or face.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br><div class="figure"> +<a name='026'></a><img src="images/026.jpg" alt="SCENE NEAR TELLURIDE."> +<h4><a href='#Where_natures'>"Where nature's chemistry distills,<br> +The fountain and the laughing rills."</a><br /><br><br> +SCENE NEAR TELLURIDE, SAN MIGUEL COUNTY, COLORADO.</h4> +</div><br> + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Humanitys_Stream'></a><h2><b>Humanity's Stream.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>I stood upon a crowded thoroughfare,<br /></span> +<span>Within a city's confines, where were met<br /></span> +<span>All classes and conditions, and surveyed,<br /></span> +<span>From a secluded niche or aperture,<br /></span> +<span>The various, ever-changing multitude<br /></span> +<span>Which passed along in restless turbulence,<br /></span> +<span>And, as a human river, ebbed and flowed<br /></span> +<span>Within its banks of brick and masonry.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Within this vast and heterogeneous throng,<br /></span> +<span>One might discern all stages and degrees,<br /></span> +<span>From wealth and power to helpless indigence;<br /></span> +<span>Extravagance to trenchant penury,<br /></span> +<span>And all extremes of want and misery.<br /></span> +<span>Some blest by wealth, some cursed by poverty;<br /></span> +<span>Some in positions neutral to them both;<br /></span> +<span>Some wore a gaunt and ill-conditioned look<br /></span> +<span>Which told its tale of lack of nourishment;<br /></span> +<span>While others showed that irritated air<br /></span> +<span>Which speaks of gout and pampered appetite;<br /></span> +<span>Some following vocations quite reverse<br /></span> +<span>From those which nature had endowed them for;<br /></span> +<span>Some passed with face self-satisfied and calm,<br /></span> +<span>As if the world bore nothing else but joy;<br /></span> +<span>And some there were who, from the cradle's mouth,<br /></span> +<span>As they pursued their journey to the grave,<br /></span> +<span>Had felt no throb save that of misery;<br /></span> +<span>The man of large affairs passed by in haste,<br /></span> +<span>With mind preoccupied, nor thought of else<br /></span> +<span>Save undertakings which concerned himself;<br /></span> +<span>The shallow son of misplaced opulence<br /></span> +<span>Came strutting by with self-important air,<br /></span> +<span>With head erect in a contemptuous poise,<br /></span> +<span>As if the stars were subject to his will,<br /></span> +<span>And e'en the golden sun was something base,<br /></span> +<span>Which had offended with its wholesome light<br /></span> +<span>In shining on so great a personage,<br /></span> +<span>A being more than ordinary clay,<br /></span> +<span>And much superior to the vulgar herd!<br /></span> +<span>Some faces passed which knew no kindly look,<br /></span> +<span>And felt no friendly pressure of the hand;<br /></span> +<span>And if the face depict the character,<br /></span> +<span>Some passed so steeped in crime and villainy<br /></span> +<span>That Judas' vile, ill-favored countenance<br /></span> +<span>Would seem in contrast quite respectable;<br /></span> +<span>Some features glowed with unfeigned honesty,<br /></span> +<span>Some grimaced in dissimulating craft,<br /></span> +<span>Some smiled benignantly and passed along;<br /></span> +<span>Some faces meek, some stern and resolute;<br /></span> +<span>Some the embodiment of gentleness;<br /></span> +<span>Some whose specific aspects plainly told<br /></span> +<span>Their fondest dreams were not of earth, but heaven;<br /></span> +<span>A newly wedded couple passed that way,<br /></span> +<span>In the sweet zenith of their honeymoon,<br /></span> +<span>But little dreaming what the future held.<br /></span> +<span>The light and trivial fool, the brainless fop;<br /></span> +<span>The staid and sober priest and minister;<br /></span> +<span>And she who worshiped at proud fashion's shrine;<br /></span> +<span>The mental giant, serious and sad;<br /></span> +<span>The thoughtful student and philosopher;<br /></span> +<span>And some of intellect diminutive;<br /></span> +<span>The man of letters, with abstracted mien,<br /></span> +<span>And he whose every thought was on the toil<br /></span> +<span>Which made his bare existence possible;<br /></span> +<span>The blushing maiden, pure and innocent;<br /></span> +<span>The stately grandam, dignified and gray;<br /></span> +<span>The matron, with the babe upon her breast;<br /></span> +<span>The silly superannuated flirt,<br /></span> +<span>Who nursed her waning beauty day by day,<br /></span> +<span>And still essayed to act the role of youth;<br /></span> +<span>The gay coquette and belle of other days,<br /></span> +<span>Who in life's morning, with disdainful laugh,<br /></span> +<span>Had quaffed the cup of pleasure to its dregs,<br /></span> +<span>And now, grown old, must pay the penalty<br /></span> +<span>In wrinkles and uncourted loneliness;<br /></span> +<span>The widow, who, but newly desolate,<br /></span> +<span>Would grasp a hand, then start to find it gone;<br /></span> +<span>The spendthrift and the sordid usurer,<br /></span> +<span>Who knew no sentiment save lust for gold;<br /></span> +<span>The bloated drunkard, sinking 'neath the weight<br /></span> +<span>Of wassail inclination dissolute;<br /></span> +<span>The youth, who, following his baleful steps,<br /></span> +<span>Reeled for the first time from intemperance;<br /></span> +<span>And she who had forgot her covenant,<br /></span> +<span>In brazen infamy and unwept shame;—<br /></span> +<span>The good, the bad, the impious and unjust,<br /></span> +<span>The energetic and the indolent,<br /></span> +<span>The adolescent and the venerable,<br /></span> +<span>Passed by, pursuant of their various ways.<br /></span> +</div> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><br /> +<div class='stanza'> +<span>The aged and decrepit plodded by,<br /></span> +<span>Whom one would think were ripe for any tomb,<br /></span> +<span>Yet quailed at dissolution's very thought;<br /></span> +<span>The crippled and deformed, with cane and crutch,<br /></span> +<span>Came limping by, as eddies in the stream;<br /></span> +<span>The mendicant, whose eyes might never see<br /></span> +<span>The golden sunlight, felt his way along,<br /></span> +<span>And though the world was dark, still shrank from death.<br /></span> +<span>Some faces showed the trace of recent tears,<br /></span> +<span>And some revealed the impress of despair;<br /></span> +<span>Others endeavored with a careless smile<br /></span> +<span>To hide a breast surcharged with hopelessness,<br /></span> +<span>As one afflicted with a foul disease<br /></span> +<span>Strives to avoid the scrutinizing gaze<br /></span> +<span>By the assumption of indifference;<br /></span> +<span>Some whose misfortunes and adversities<br /></span> +<span>And oft repeated disappointments, dried<br /></span> +<span>The fountain heads of kindness, and had turned<br /></span> +<span>Life's sweetest joys to gall and bitterness.<br /></span> +<span>Each face betrayed some sort or form of woe;<br /></span> +<span>In more than one I read a tragedy.<br /></span> +</div> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><br /> +<div class='stanza'> +<span>How complex is existence! What a maze<br /></span> +<span>Of complication and entanglement!<br /></span> +<span>Each thread combining with the other threads<br /></span> +<span>Fulfills its office in the labyrinth;<br /></span> +<span>Each link concatenates the other links<br /></span> +<span>Which constitute the vast and endless chain<br /></span> +<span>Of human life, and human destiny,—<br /></span> +<span>The strange phantasmagoria of fate.<br /></span> +</div> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><br /> +<div class='stanza'> +<span>So we, in life's procession, pass along<br /></span> +<span>To the accompaniment of secret dirge,<br /></span> +<span>Or laughter interspersed with tear and groan;<br /></span> +<span>Nor pause a moment, nor retrace a step,<br /></span> +<span>But march in Fate's spectacular review<br /></span> +<span>In pageant to our common goal—<br /></span> +<span class='i12'>The Grave.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Natures_Lullaby'></a><h2><b>Nature's Lullaby.</b> </h2> + +<div class="subhead">A MOUNTAIN NOCTURNE</div> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>In forest shade my couch is made.<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And there I calmly lie,<br /></span> +<span>With thought confined in pensive mind,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And contemplate the sky;<br /></span> +<span>I wonder if the frowning cliff,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The valley and the wood,<br /></span> +<span>Or rugged freaks of mountain peaks,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Enjoy their solitude.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The heavens hold a sphere of gold,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>A full and placid moon,<br /></span> +<span>Suspended high, in cloudless sky,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>With constellations strewn;<br /></span> +<span>Its mellow beam, on rill and stream,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>In silvery sheen I see;<br /></span> +<span>Before its light, the shades of night<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As evil spirits, flee.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>In space afar, a shooting star,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>With swift, uncertain course,<br /></span> +<span>In dazzling sparks its passage marks,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As it expends its force;<br /></span> +<span>The mountains bare reflect its glare<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of weird, unearthly light,<br /></span> +<span>And e'en the skies, in glad surprise,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Behold its gorgeous flight.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The spruce and pine, at timber-line,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>In straggling patches strewn,<br /></span> +<span>Surcharge the breeze with melodies,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The forests' plaintive tune;<br /></span> +<span>As they descend, the waters blend<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>In babbling harmony,<br /></span> +<span>And soothe to rest my tranquil breast,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>With Nature's lullaby.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br><div class="figure"> +<a name='032'></a><img src="images/032.jpg" alt="BRIDAL VEIL FALLS."> +<h4><a href='#Where_the_torrent'>"Where the torrent falls o'er the mountain wall."</a><br /><br><br> +BRIDAL VEIL FALLS, NEAR TELLURIDE, SAN MIGUEL COUNTY, COLORADO.</h4> +</div><br> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='The_Spirit_of_freedom_is_Born_of_the_Mountains'></a><h2><b>The Spirit of freedom is Born of the Mountains.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>The spirit of freedom is born of the mountains,<br /></span> +<span>In gorge and in cañon it hovers and dwells;<br /></span> +<span>Pervading the torrents and crystalline fountains,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Which dash through the valleys and forest clad dells.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The spirit of freedom, so firm and impliant,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Is borne on the breeze, whose invisible waves<br /></span> +<span>Descend from the mountain peaks, stern and defiant—<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Created for freemen, but never for slaves.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='The_Valley_of_the_San_Miguel'></a><h2><b>The Valley of the San Miguel.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>In the golden West, by fond Nature blest,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Lies a vale which my heart holds dear;<br /></span> +<span>Where the zephyr blows from eternal snows<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And tempers the atmosphere;<br /></span> +<span><a name="Where_the_torrent"></a>Where the torrent falls o'er the mountain walls,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As its thunderous echoes thrill,<br /></span> +<span>Where the sparkling mist, by the rainbow kissed,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Decks the Valley of San Miguel<a name='FNanchor_B_2'></a><a href='#Footnote_B_2'><sup>[B]</sup></a>.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Where the birds of spring, in their season sing,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Their spontaneous melodies;<br /></span> +<span>Where the columbine and the stately pine<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Stand quivering in the breeze;<br /></span> +<span>Where the aspen tall hugs the trachyte wall,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And the wild rose bedecks the hill;<br /></span> +<span>Where the willows weep, and their vigils keep,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>On the banks of the San Miguel.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span><a name="Where_the_mountains"></a>Where the mountains high, cleave the azure sky,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>With their turrets so bleak and gray;<br /></span> +<span>Where the morning light crowns the dizzy height,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>At the break of the summer's day;<br /></span> +<span>Where the crags look down with an austere frown,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>O'er the valley so calm and still;<br /></span> +<span>Where the mesas blue, blend their dreamy hue<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>With the skies of the San Miguel.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Where the mountains hold a vast wealth of gold,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>In the quartz ledge and placer bar;<br /></span> +<span>Where the hills resound with the constant sound<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of the stamp mill's battering jar;<br /></span> +<span>Where the waters dash with the rhythmic splash<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of the cascade and mountain rill,<br /></span> +<span>As they laugh and flow to the lands below,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Through the turbulent San Miguel.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Where the shadows glide, in the eventide,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As the sun, to nocturnal rest,<br /></span> +<span>With the dazzling rays of a world ablaze,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Sinks into the distant west;<br /></span> +<span>When the yellow leaf of existence brief,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Brings the hour when the pulse is still,<br /></span> +<span>May my ashes rest in the golden West,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>On the banks of the San Miguel.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br><div class="figure"> +<a name='034'></a><img src="images/034.jpg" alt="LIZARD HEAD."> +<h4><a href='#Where_the_mountains'>"Where the mountains high, cleave the azure sky,<br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>With their turrets so bleak and gray."</span></a><br /><br><br> +LIZARD HEAD, SAN MIGUEL COUNTY, COLORADO.</h4> +</div><br> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_B_2'></a><a href='#FNanchor_B_2'>[B]</a><div class='note'><p> San Miguel, pronounced "Magill," the Spanish form of St. Michael.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='To_Mother_Huberta'></a><h2><b>To Mother Huberta.</b></h2> +<br /> + +<p><i>As repeated in chorus on the anniversary of her Names-day by the +Sisters of St. Hubert at St. Anthony's Hospital, Denver, Col., Oct. 29, +1900.</i></p> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Mother, our greetings be to thee,<br /></span> +<span>On the glad anniversary<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of this, thy festive day;<br /></span> +<span>Thy daughters, daughters not of earth,<br /></span> +<span>But bound by cords of Heavenly birth,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Their love and greetings pay.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>We thank thee, Mother, for thy care,<br /></span> +<span>Thy watchfulness, and fervent prayer;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And if 'tis Heaven's will,<br /></span> +<span>May many a returning year<br /></span> +<span>And namesday find our Mother here,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Constant and watchful still.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Blest be that autumn brown and sere!<br /></span> +<span>Bless-ed the day and blest the year,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of his<a name='FNanchor_C_3'></a><a href='#Footnote_C_3'><sup>[C]</sup></a> nativity!<br /></span> +<span>Blest be the hospitals, which rise,<br /></span> +<span>Resultant of thy enterprise,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Thy zeal and fervency.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Blest be that hunter<a name='FNanchor_D_4'></a><a href='#Footnote_D_4'><sup>[D]</sup></a> saint of thine!<br /></span> +<span>Bless-ed the deer, and blest the sign<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Between its antlers broad!<br /></span> +<span>To us, thy daughters, is it given<br /></span> +<span>To bless thee, in the name of Heaven,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And blessing thee, bless God.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_C_3'></a><a href='#FNanchor_C_3'>[C]</a><div class='note'><p> St. Hubert.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_D_4'></a><a href='#FNanchor_D_4'>[D]</a><div class='note'><p> St. Hubert, the apostle of Ardennes, a saint of the Roman Catholic +Church, the patron of huntsmen. He was of a noble family of Acquitaine. +While hunting in the forests of Ardennes he had a vision of a stag with +a shining crucifix between its antlers, and heard a warning voice. He +was converted, entered the church, and eventually became Bishop of +Maestricht and Liege. He worked many miracles, and is said to have died +in 727 or 729. Spofford's Cyclopædia, Vol. 4, page 470.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Suggested_by_a_Mountain_Eagle'></a><h2><b>Suggested by a Mountain Eagle.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>I gazed at the azure-hued mantle of heaven,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The measureless depths of ethereal space;<br /></span> +<span>I gazed at the clouds, so invisibly driven,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And an eagle, which wheeled with symmetrical grace.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>I gazed at that eagle, majestically wheeling,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>With dignity, born of the free mountain air;<br /></span> +<span>I envied that bird, with an envious feeling<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Which springs from a heart that is shackled with care.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>I envied that eagle, which bowed to no master,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>But soared at his will, through the ambient skies,<br /></span> +<span>Defiant of danger, and scorning disaster,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>He screamed at the cliffs, which re-echoed his cries.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>I envied that bird, on that fair summer morning,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>When nature lay decked with spontaneous art,<br /></span> +<span>As he circled, with aspect defiant and scorning,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And perched on a pinnacle's loftiest part.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br><div class="figure"> +<a name='038'></a><img src="images/038.jpg" alt="TROUT LAKE."> +<h4><a href='#And_by_the_mountain'>"And by the mountain crystal lake<br /> +<span style='margin-left: 2em;'>A rustic habitation make."</span></a><br /><br><br> +TROUT LAKE, SAN MIGUEL COUNTY, COLORADO.</h4> +</div><br> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>And scanning the scene with a stern indecision,<br /></span> +<span>He spread his dark wings, with intuitive cries,<br /></span> +<span>And sped, till acute and inquisitive vision<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Discerned but a movable speck in the skies.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>When the shades of the evening, so listless and dreary,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Descend on the valley, his wing never flags,<br /></span> +<span>As through the dark shadows he soars to his eyerie,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Which nestles among the impregnable crags.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Ah! fain would I rise on thy feathery pinions,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Above the material cares of the day,<br /></span> +<span>And float over earth's most enchanting dominions,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As clouds, by the zephyrs, are wafted away!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='The_Silvery_San_Juan'></a><h2><b>The Silvery San Juan.</b> </h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Wherever I wander, my spirit still dwells,<br /></span> +<span>In the silvery San Juan<a name='FNanchor_E_5'></a><a href='#Footnote_E_5'><sup>[E]</sup></a> with its streamlet and dells;<br /></span> +<span>Whose mountainous summits, so rugged and high,<br /></span> +<span>With their pinnacles pierce the ethereal sky;<br /></span> +<span>Where the daisy, the rose, and the sweet columbine<br /></span> +<span>Blend their colors with those of the sober hued pine;<br /></span> +<span><a name="Where_the_ceaseless"></a>Where the ceaseless erosions of measureless time,<br /></span> +<span>Have chiseled the grotto and canon sublime;<br /></span> +<span>Have sculptured the cliff, and the stern mountain wall;<br /></span> +<span>Have formed the bold turret, impressive and tall;<br /></span> +<span><a name="Have_cut"></a>Have cut the deep gorge with its wonderful caves,<br /></span> +<span>Sepulchral and gloomy; whose vast architraves<br /></span> +<span>Support the stalactites, both pendant and white,<br /></span> +<span>Which with the stalagmites beneath them unite;<br /></span> +<span>Where nestles a valley, sequestered and grand,<br /></span> +<span>Worn out of the rock by the same tireless hand,<br /></span> +<span>Surrounded by mountains, majestic and gray,<br /></span> +<span><a name="Which_smile_from"></a>Which smile from their heights on the Town of Ouray.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br><div class="figure"> +<a name='040'></a><img src="images/040.jpg" alt="BOX CANYON LOOKING INWARD."> +<h4><a href='#Where_the_ceaseless'>"Where the ceaseless erosions of measureless time,<br> +Have chiseled the grotto and canon sublime."</a><br /><br><br> +BOX CAÑON, LOOKING INWARD, OURAY, COLORADO.</h4> +</div><br> + + +<div class='poem'> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><br /> +<div class='stanza'> +<span><a name="Wherever_I_wander"></a>Wherever I wander, my ears hear the sound<br /></span> +<span>Of thy waters, which plunge with a turbulent bound<br /></span> +<span>O'er the precipice, seething and laden with foam;<br /></span> +<span>My ears hear their music wherever I roam;<br /></span> +<span>Where the cataract's rhapsody, joyous and light,<br /></span> +<span>Enchants in the morning and soothes in the night;<br /></span> +<span>Where blend the loud thunders, sonorous and deep,<br /></span> +<span>With the sobs of the rain as the black heavens weep;<br /></span> +<span>Where the whispering zephyr, and murmuring breeze,<br /></span> +<span>Unite with the soft, listless sigh of the trees;<br /></span> +<span>And where to the fancy, the voices of air<br /></span> +<span>Wail in tones of distress, or in shrieks of despair;<br /></span> +<span>Where mourneth the night wind, with desolate breath,<br /></span> +<span>In accents suggestive of sorrow and death;<br /></span> +<span>As falls from the heavens, so fleecy and light,<br /></span> +<span>The winter's immaculate mantle of white;<br /></span> +<span>Wherever I wander, these sounds greet my ears,<br /></span> +<span>And the silvery San Juan to my fancy appears.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_E_5'></a><a href='#FNanchor_E_5'>[E]</a><div class='note'><p> Pronounced San Wan. Spanish form of St. John.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='As_the_Shifting_Sands_of_the_Desert'></a><h2><b>As the Shifting Sands of the Desert.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>As the shifting sands of the desert<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Are born by the simoon's wrath,<br /></span> +<span>And in wanton and fleet confusion,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Are strewn on its trackless path;<br /></span> +<span>So our lives with resistless fury,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Insensibly and unknown,<br /></span> +<span>With a restless vacillation<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>By the winds of fate are blown;<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>But an All-Wise Hand<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>May have changed the sand,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>For a purpose of His own.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>As the troubled and turbulent waters,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As the waves of the angry main,<br /></span> +<span>Respond with their undulations<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>To the breath of the hurricane;<br /></span> +<span>So our lives on Time's boundless ocean<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Unwittingly toss and roll,<br /></span> +<span>And unconsciously drift with the current<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Which evades our assumed control;<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>But a Hand of love,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>From the skies above,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>May have guided us past a shoal.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Ephemeral, mobile, and fleeting,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Our delible paths we tread;<br /></span> +<span>And fade as the crimson sunset,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>When the heavens are tinged with red;<br /></span> +<span>As the gorgeously tinted rainbow<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Retains not its varied dyes,<br /></span> +<span>We change, with the constant mutation,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of desert, of sea, and skies;<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>But the Hand which made,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>Knows each transient shade,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Which passes before the eyes.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br><div class="figure"> +<a name='042'></a><img src="images/042.jpg" alt="OURAY, COLORADO."> +<h4><a href='#Which_smile_from'>"Which smile from their heights on the town of Ouray."</a><br><br> +OURAY, COLORADO.</h4></div><br> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Missed'></a><h2><b>Missed.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Pity the child who never feels<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>A mother's fond caress;<br /></span> +<span>That childish smile a void conceals<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of aching loneliness.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Pity the heart which loves in vain,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>What balm or mystic spell<br /></span> +<span>Can soothe that bosom's secret pain,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The pain it may not tell?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Pity those missed by Cupid's darts,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>For 'twas ordained for such,<br /></span> +<span>Who love at random, but whose hearts<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Feel no responsive touch.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='If_I_Have_Lived_Before'></a><h2><b>If I Have Lived Before.</b> </h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>If I have lived before, some evidence<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Should that existence to the present bind;<br /></span> +<span>Some innate inkling of experience<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Should still imbue and permeate the mind,<br /></span> +<span>If we, progressing, pass from state to state,<br /></span> +<span>Or retrograde, as turns the wheel of fate.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>If I have lived before, and could my eyes<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>But view the scenes wherein that life was spent,<br /></span> +<span>Or even for an instant recognize<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The climes, conditions and environment<br /></span> +<span>Beloved by them in that pre-natal span,<br /></span> +<span>Though past and future both be sealed to man;<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Or, if perchance, kind memory should ope'<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Her floodgates, with fond recollection fraught,<br /></span> +<span>'Twould then renew the dormant fires of hope,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Now smothered out by speculative thought;<br /></span> +<span>'Twould then rekindle faith within a breast,<br /></span> +<span>Where doubt is now the sole remaining guest.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='The_Darker_Side'></a><h2><b>The Darker Side.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>They say that all nature is smiling and gay,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And the birds the most happy of all,<br /></span> +<span>But the sparrow, pursued by the sparrowhawk,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Savors more of the wormwood and gall.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>They say that all nature is smiling and gay,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>But the groan may dissemble the laugh;<br /></span> +<span>E'en now from the meadow is wafted the sound<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of a bovine bewailing her calf.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>They say that all nature is smiling and gay,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>But the moss often covers the rock;<br /></span> +<span>Every animal form is beset by a foe,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>For the wolf always follows the flock.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>For the animal holds all inferior flesh<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As its just and legitimate prey;<br /></span> +<span>Every scream of the eagle a panic creates<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As the weaker things scamper away.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>They say that all nature is smiling and gay,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>But the smiles are all needed to sweeten<br /></span> +<span>The struggle we see so incessantly waged<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>To eat, and avoid being eaten.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>And men, with their genial competitive ways<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Present no decided improvements,<br /></span> +<span>For their personal gain they will sacrifice all<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Who may stand in the way of their movements.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='The_Miner'></a><h2><b>The Miner.</b> </h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i3'>Clink! Clink! Clink!<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The song of the hammer and drill!<br /></span> +<span>At the sound of the whistle so shrill and clear,<br /></span> +<span>He must leave the wife and the children dear,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>In his cabin upon the hill.<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>Clink! Clink! Clink!<br /></span> +<span>But the arms that deliver the sturdy stroke,<br /></span> +<span>Ere the shift is done, may be crushed or broke,<br /></span> +<span>Or the life may succumb to the gas and smoke,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Which the underground caverns fill.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i3'>Clink! Clink! Clink!<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The song of the hammer and drill!<br /></span> +<span>As he toils in the shaft, in the stope or raise,<br /></span> +<span>'Mid dangers which lurk, but elude the gaze,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>His nerves with no terrors thrill.<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>Clink! Clink! Clink!<br /></span> +<span>For the heart of the miner is strong and brave;<br /></span> +<span>Though the rocks may fall, and the shaft may cave<br /></span> +<span>And become his dungeon, if not his grave,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>He braves every thought of ill.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i3'>Clink! Clink! Clink!<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The song of the hammer and drill!<br /></span> +<span>But the heart which is beating in unison<br /></span> +<span>With the steady stroke, e'er the shift is done,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>May be cold and forever still.<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>Clink! Clink! Clink!<br /></span> +<span>He may reap the harvest of danger sowed,<br /></span> +<span>The hole which he drills he may never load,<br /></span> +<span>For the powder may e'en in his hand explode,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>To mangle, if not to kill.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i3'>Clink! Clink! Clink!<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The song of the hammer and drill!<br /></span> +<span>Facing dangers more grim than the cannon's mouth;<br /></span> +<span>Breathing poisons more foul than the swamps of the south<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>In their tropical fens distill.<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>Clink! Clink! Clink!<br /></span> +<span>Thus the battle he fights for his daily bread;<br /></span> +<span>Thus our gold and our silver, our iron and lead,<br /></span> +<span>Cost us lives, as true as our blood is red,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And probably always will.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Lifes_Undercurrent'></a><h2><b>Life's Undercurrent.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Within the precincts of a hospital,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>I wandered in a sympathetic mood;<br /></span> +<span>Where face to face with wormwood and with gall,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>With wrecks of pain and stern vicissitude,<br /></span> +<span>The eye unused to human misery<br /></span> +<span>Might view life's undercurrent vividly.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>My gaze soon rested on the stricken form<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of one succumbing to the fever's drouth,<br /></span> +<span>With throbbing brow intolerably warm,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>With wasted lips and mute appealing mouth;<br /></span> +<span>And when I watched that prostrate figure there<br /></span> +<span>I thought that fate must be the worst to bear.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>I next beheld a thin but patient face,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Aged by the constant twinge of hopeless pain,<br /></span> +<span>Wheeled in an easy chair from place to place,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>A form which ne'er might stand erect again;<br /></span> +<span>I viewed that human shipwreck in his chair,<br /></span> +<span>And thought a fate like that was worst to bear.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Within her room a beauteous maiden lay,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Moaning in agony no words express,<br /></span> +<span>A cancer eating rapidly away<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Her vital force,—so foul and pitiless;<br /></span> +<span>And when I saw that face, so young and fair,<br /></span> +<span>I thought such anguish was the worst to bear.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br><div class="figure"> +<a name='048'></a><img src="images/048.jpg" alt="BOX CANYON LOOKING OUTWARD."> +<h4><a href='#Have_cut'>"Have cut the deep gorge with its wonderful curves."</a><br /><br><br> +BOX CAÑON, LOOKING OUTWARD, OURAY, COLORADO.</h4> +</div><br> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>A helpless paralytic met my eyes,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Whose hands might never grasp a friendly hand,<br /></span> +<span>But hung distorted and of shrunken size,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Insensible to muscular command;<br /></span> +<span>His face an abject picture of despair;<br /></span> +<span>I thought a fate like that was worst to bear.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>With wasted form, emaciate and wan,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>A pale consumptive coughed with labored breath,<br /></span> +<span>His sunken eyes and hectic flush upon<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>His cheek, foretold a sure but lingering death;<br /></span> +<span>I thought, whene'er I met his hollow stare,<br /></span> +<span>A wasting death like that was worst to bear.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>That day with fetters obdurate and fast,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>With chain of summer, winter, spring and fall,<br /></span> +<span>Is bounden to the dim receding past;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Time o'er my life has spread a somber pall,<br /></span> +<span>With sightless eyes I grope and clutch the air,<br /></span> +<span>My lot is now the hardest lot to bear.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='They_Cannot_See_the_Wreaths_We_Place'></a><h2><b>They Cannot See the Wreaths We Place.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>They cannot see the wreaths we place<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Upon the silent bier,<br /></span> +<span>They cannot see the tear-stained face,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Nor feel the scalding tear,<br /></span> +<span>And now can flowers or graven stone,<br /></span> +<span>For wrongs done them in life atone?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Better the flower that smooths the thorns<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>On earthly pathway found,<br /></span> +<span>Than that which uselessly adorns<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The bier or silent mound.<br /></span> +<span>And neither tear nor floral token<br /></span> +<span>Retracts the hasty word, when spoken.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Then strew the flowers ere life has fled,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>While yet their eyes discern;<br /></span> +<span>Why waste their fragrance on the dead<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Who no fond smile return?<br /></span> +<span>The heaving breast with sorrow aches,<br /></span> +<span>Comfort the throbbing heart which breaks.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='MothermdashAlpha_and_Omega'></a><h2><b>Mother.—Alpha and Omega.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Mother! Mother!<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The startled cry of childish fright<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Rang through the silence of the night,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As but the mother's fond caress<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Could soothe its infantile distress;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And the mother answered, with loving stroke<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of her gentle hand, as she softly spoke:<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>"Hush, hush, my child, that troubled cry;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>What evil can harm thee, with mother nigh?"<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Mother! Mother!<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Long years have passed, and the fevered brow<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of a bearded man, she is stroking now,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As through delirium and pain<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>He cries as a little child, again.<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And the mother answered, with loving stroke<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of her careworn hand, as she softly spoke:<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>"Hush, hush, my child, that troubled cry;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>What evil can harm thee, with mother nigh?"<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Mother! Mother!<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Still time rolls on, and an old man stands<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Trembling on life's declining sands;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As memory bridges the flood of years<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>He cries as a child, with childish tears;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And memory answers, with loving stroke<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of a vanished hand, and an echo spoke:<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>"Hush, hush, my child, that troubled cry;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>What evil can harm thee, with mother nigh?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Empty_are_the_Mothers_Arms'></a><h2><b>Empty are the Mother's Arms.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Ah, empty are the mother's arms<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Which clasp a vanished form;<br /></span> +<span>A darling spared from life's alarms,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And safe from earthly storm.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>In absent reverie, she hears<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>That voice, nor can forget;<br /></span> +<span>The fond illusion disappears,—<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Her arms are empty, yet.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='In_Deo_Fides'></a><h2><b>In Deo Fides.</b> </h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Almighty God! Supreme! Most High!<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Before Thy throne, in reverence, we kneel;<br /></span> +<span>We cannot realize Thine infinity;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Beholding not, we can Thy presence feel;<br /></span> +<span>Though veiled impenetrably, Thou dost reveal<br /></span> +<span>Such evidence as clouds cannot conceal!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Acknowledged, though unseen, Almighty Power!<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Within its secret depths, the bosom pays<br /></span> +<span>In pleasure's or affliction's calmer hour,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The heart's sincerest offering of praise;<br /></span> +<span>Intuitive, unuttered prayers arise<br /></span> +<span>Without the outstretched arms, or reverently clos-ed eyes.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Down deep within the soul's mysterious seat,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The voice of reason, and inherent sense,<br /></span> +<span>Admits Thy Sovereign Power, and doth entreat<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The guidance of a Just Omnipotence;<br /></span> +<span>Thus doth the human essence e'er depend<br /></span> +<span>On that Supreme. Eternal. Without End.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Supreme, Mysterious Power! Whate'er Thou be,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Can e'er our mortal natures comprehend,<br /></span> +<span>This side the veil which shrouds futurity,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Thy Wisdom, Power, and Love? The end<br /></span> +<span>Of all conclusions, reasoned o'er and o'er,<br /></span> +<span>We know Thou dost exist! Can we know more?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Shall_Love_as_the_Bridal_Wreath_Whither_and_Die'></a><h2><b>Shall Love, as the Bridal Wreath, Whither and Die?</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Shall love as the bridal wreath, wither and die?<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Or remain ever constant and sure,<br /></span> +<span>As the years of the future pass rapidly by,<br /></span> +<span>And the waves of adversity's tempest roll high,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Ever changeless and fervent endure?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Mistake not the fancy, that lasts but a day,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>For the love which eternally thrives;<br /></span> +<span>That sentiment false, is as prone to decay<br /></span> +<span>As the wreath is to fade and to wither away;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And like it, it never revives.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Shall_Our_Memories_Live_When_the_Sod_Rolls_Above_Us'></a><h2><b>Shall Our Memories Live When the Sod Rolls Above Us?</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Shall our memories live, when the sod rolls above us<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And marks our last home with a mouldering heap?<br /></span> +<span>Shall the voices of those who profess that they love us<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>E'er mention our names, as we dreamlessly sleep?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Will their eyes ever dim at some fond recollection,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Or their hands ever plant a small flower o'er the breast,<br /></span> +<span>Or will they gaze with a sad circumspection<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>At the tablets, which tell of our last solemn rest?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Ah! soon shall the hearts which our memories cherish<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Forget, as they strive with the cares of their own;<br /></span> +<span>And even the last dim remembrance shall perish<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As we peacefully slumber, unwept and unknown.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>But if our lives, though of transient duration,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Are filled with some work in humanity's name,<br /></span> +<span>Some uplifting effort, or self-immolation,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Our memories shall live in the temples of Fame.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='A_Reverie'></a><h2><b>A Reverie.</b> </h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>O, tomb of the past<br /></span> +<span>Where buried hopes lie,<br /></span> +<span>In my visions I see<br /></span> +<span>Thy phantoms pass by!<br /></span> +<span>A form, long departed,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Before me appears;<br /></span> +<span>A sweet voice, long silent,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Again greets my ears.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Fond memory dwells<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>On the things that have been;<br /></span> +<span>And my eyes calmly gaze<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>On a long vanished scene;<br /></span> +<span>A scene such as memory<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Stores deep in the breast,<br /></span> +<span>Which only appears<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>In a season of rest.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Once more we wander,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Her fair hand in mine;<br /></span> +<span>Once more her promise,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>"I'll ever be thine";<br /></span> +<span>Once more the parting,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The shroud, and the pall,<br /></span> +<span>The sods' hollow thump<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As they coffinward fall.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The reverie ends—<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>All the fancies have flown;<br /></span> +<span>And my sad, lonely heart,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Now seems doubly alone;<br /></span> +<span>As the Ivy, whose tendrils<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Reach longingly out,<br /></span> +<span>Yet finds not an oak<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>To entwine them about.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Loves_Plea'></a><h2><b>Love's Plea.</b> </h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>I love thee, my darling, both now and forever,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>My heart feels the thralldom of love's mystic spell,<br /></span> +<span>'Tis fettered with shackles which nothing can sever,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>To the heart which responds to its passionate swell.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>I love thee, my darling, with love that is stronger,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Than all the fond ties which the heart holds enshrined;<br /></span> +<span>Adversity, sorrow or pain can no longer<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Detract from this heart, if with thine intertwined.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>I love thee, my darling, with sacred affection,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Which death, nor the cycles of time shall efface;<br /></span> +<span>Nor from my heart's mirror, erase thy reflection,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Nor tear thy fond heart from its fervent embrace.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Ashes_to_Ashes_Dust_to_Dust'></a><h2><b>Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Is there a Death? The light of day<br /></span> +<span>At eventide shall fade away;<br /></span> +<span>From out the sod's eternal gloom<br /></span> +<span>The flowers, in their season, bloom;<br /></span> +<span>Bud, bloom and fade, and soon the spot<br /></span> +<span>Whereon they flourished knows them not;<br /></span> +<span>Blighted by chill, autumnal frost;<br /></span> +<span>"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust!"<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Is there a Death? Pale forms of men<br /></span> +<span>To formless clay resolve again;<br /></span> +<span>Sarcophagus of graven stone,<br /></span> +<span>Nor solitary grave, unknown,<br /></span> +<span>Mausoleum, or funeral urn,<br /></span> +<span>No answer to our cries return;<br /></span> +<span>Nor silent lips disclose their trust;<br /></span> +<span>"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust!"<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Is there a Death? All forms of clay<br /></span> +<span>Successively shall pass away;<br /></span> +<span>But, as the joyous days of spring<br /></span> +<span>Witness the glad awakening<br /></span> +<span>Of nature's forces, may not men,<br /></span> +<span>In some due season, rise again?<br /></span> +<span>Then why this calm, inherent trust,<br /></span> +<span>"If ashes to ashes, dust to dust?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Despair'></a><h2><b>Despair.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Ill fares the heart, when hope has fled;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>When vanishes each prospect fair,<br /></span> +<span>When the last flickering ray has sped,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And naught remains but mute despair;<br /></span> +<span>When inky blackness doth enshroud<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The hopes the heart once held in store,<br /></span> +<span>As some tall pine, by great winds bowed,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Doth snap, and when the tempest's o'er,<br /></span> +<span><a name="Its_noble_form"></a>Its noble form, magnificent and proud,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Doth prostrate lie, nor ever riseth more;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Thus breaks the heart, which sees no hope before.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Ill fares the heart, when hope has fled;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>That heart is as some ruin old,<br /></span> +<span>With ancient arch and wall, o'erspread<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>With moss, and desolating mold;<br /></span> +<span>Whose banquet halls, where once the sound<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of revelry rang unconfined,<br /></span> +<span>Now, with the hoot of owls resound,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Or echo back the mournful wind;<br /></span> +<span>In whose foul nooks the gruesome bat is found.<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The heart a ruin is, when unresigned;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>No hope before, and but regret behind.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br><div class="figure"> +<a name='060'></a><img src="images/060.jpg" alt="IRONTON PARK."> +<h4><a href='#Its_noble_form'> "Its noble form magnificent and proud,<br /> +Doth prostrate lie, nor ever riseth more."</a><br /><br><br> +IRONTON PARK, OURAY COUNTY, COLORADO.</h4> +</div><br> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Ill fares the heart, when hope has fled;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>That heart, to fate unreconciled,<br /></span> +<span>Though throbbing, is as truly dead<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As though by foul decay defiled;<br /></span> +<span>That heart is as a grinning skull,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>With smiling mockery, and stare<br /></span> +<span>Of eyeless sockets, or the hull<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of shipwrecked vessel, bleached and bare,<br /></span> +<span>Derelict, morbid, apathetic, dull,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As drowning men, who clutch the empty air,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The heart goes down, which feels but blind despair.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Hidden_Sorrows'></a><h2><b>Hidden Sorrows.</b> </h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>For some the river of life would seem<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Free from the shallow, the reef, or bar,<br /></span> +<span>As they gently glide down the silvery stream<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>With scarcely a ripple, a lurch, or jar;<br /></span> +<span>But under the surface, calm and fair,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Lurk the hidden snags, and the secret care;<br /></span> +<span>The waters are deepest where still, and clear,<br /></span> +<span>And the sternest anguish forbids a tear.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>For others, the pathway of life is strewn<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>With many a thorn, for each rose or bud;<br /></span> +<span>And their journey o'er mountain, o'er moor, and dune,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Can be plainly tracked by footprints of blood;<br /></span> +<span>But deeper still lies the hidden smart<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of some secret sorrow, which gnaws the heart,<br /></span> +<span>And rankles under a surface clear;<br /></span> +<span>For the sternest anguish forbids a tear.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>But, when the journey's end we see,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>At the bar of the Judge of quick and dead,<br /></span> +<span>The cross, which the one bore silently<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>May outweigh his of the bloodstained tread.<br /></span> +<span>The cross unseen, and the cross of light,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>May balance in that Judge's sight;<br /></span> +<span>O'er the heart that is breaking a smile may appear,<br /></span> +<span>For the sternest anguish forbids a tear.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='O_A_Beautiful_Thing_is_the_Flower_That_Fadeth'></a><h2><b>O, a Beautiful Thing Is the Flower That Fadeth!</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>O, a beautiful thing is the flower that fadeth,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And perishing, smiles on the chill autumn wind;<br /></span> +<span>A sweet desolation its ruin pervadeth,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>A fragrant remembrance still lingers behind.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>O, a beautiful thing is the glad consummation<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of a life that is upright, untarnished and pure;<br /></span> +<span>That spirit, when freed from this earth's animation,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Shall live, as the heavens eternal endure!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Smiles'></a><h2><b>Smiles.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>There is the warm, congenial smile,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Benign, and honest, too,<br /></span> +<span>Free from deception, fraud, and guile;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The smile of friendship true.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>There is the smile most fair to see,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Which wreathes the modest glance<br /></span> +<span>Of spotless maiden purity;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The smile of innocence.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>There is the smile of woman's love,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>That potent, siren spell,<br /></span> +<span>Which uplifts men to heaven above,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Or lures them down to hell!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>There is the vain, derisive smile,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of cynical conceit;<br /></span> +<span>The drunken leer, the grimace vile,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of lives with crime replete.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>There is the smile of vacancy,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Expressionless, we find<br /></span> +<span>On idiot physiognomy,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The vacuum of a mind.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>There is a smile, which more than tears<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Or language can express;<br /></span> +<span>The grim disguise which anguish wears,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The mask of dire distress<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>There is a smile of practiced art,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>More false than treason's kiss;<br /></span> +<span>But penetrate that dual heart,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And hear the serpent's hiss.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>A smile, the visage shall embrace,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>When nature's cup is full;<br /></span> +<span>Behind the stern and frowning face<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>There lies a grinning skull.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='A_Request'></a><h2><b>A Request.</b> </h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>When close by my bed the Death Angel shall stand<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And deliver his summons, at last;<br /></span> +<span>When my brow feels the chill of his cold, clammy hand,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And mortality's struggles are past;<br /></span> +<span>When my pain throbbing temples, with death sweat are cold,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And the spirit its strivings shall cease,<br /></span> +<span>As with muscular shrug, it relaxes its hold,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And the suffering clay is at peace;<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>E'er my spirit shall plunge through the shadowy vale,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>My lips shall this wish have expressed,<br /></span> +<span>That all which remains of mortality frail,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>In some fair enclosure may rest;<br /></span> +<span>Where disorganized, this pale form shall sustain<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The fragrant and beautiful flowers,<br /></span> +<span>And reproduce beauty, again and again,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Through nature's grand organic powers.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Battle_Hymn'></a><h2><b>Battle Hymn.</b> </h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Almighty Power! Who through the past<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Our Nation's course has safely led;<br /></span> +<span>Behold again the sky o'ercast,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Again is heard the martial tread!<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Our stay in each contingency,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Our Father's God, we turn to thee!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>For lo! The bugle note of war<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Is wafted from a southern strand!<br /></span> +<span>O Lord of Battles! we implore<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The guidance of Thy mighty hand,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>While as of yore, the hero draws<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>His sword in Freedom's sacred cause!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>And when at last the oaken wreath<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Shall crown afresh the victor's brow;<br /></span> +<span>And Peace the conquering sword resheath,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Be with us then, as well as now!<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Our stay in each contingency,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>In peace or war, we turn to Thee!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='The_Nations_Peril'></a><h2><b>The Nations Peril.</b></h2> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i4'><i>Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,</i></span> +<span class='i4'><i>Where wealth accumulates and men decay.</i></span> +<span class='i18'><i>—Goldsmith.</i></span> +</div></div> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>I fear the palace of the rich,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>I fear the hovel of the poor;<br /></span> +<span>Though fortified by moat and ditch,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The castle strong could not endure;<br /></span> +<span>Nor can the squalid hovel be<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>A source of strength, and those who cause<br /></span> +<span>This widening discrepancy<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Infringe on God's eternal laws.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The heritage of man, the earth,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Was framed for homes, not vast estates;<br /></span> +<span>A lowering scale of human worth<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Each generation demonstrates,<br /></span> +<span>Which feels the landlord's iron hand,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And hopeless, plod with effort brave;<br /></span> +<span>Who love no home can love no land;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>These own no home, until the grave.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The nation's strongest safeguards lie<br /></span> +<span>In free and unencumbered homes;<br /></span> +<span>Not in its hordes of vagrancy,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Nor in its proud, palatial domes;<br /></span> +<span>Nor can the mercenary sword<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>E'er cross with that the freeman draws.<br /></span> +<span>Nor oil upon the waters poured<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Perpetuate an unjust cause.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Eternal Justice, still prevail<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And stay this menace ere too late!<br /></span> +<span>Ere sturdy manhood droop and fail,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The law, immutable, of fate;<br /></span> +<span>No foe can daunt the stalwart heart<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of him who guards that sacred ground<br /></span> +<span>Where every hero owns a part,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Where each an ample home has found.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>No more shall battle's lurid gleam<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The cloudless sky of peace obscure;<br /></span> +<span>Nor blood becrimson field, or stream,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Nor avarice grind down the poor;<br /></span> +<span>But onward let thy progress be<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>A pageant, beautiful and grand;<br /></span> +<span>May He who e'er has guided thee<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Protect thee still, my native land!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Echoes_from_Galilee'></a><h2><b>Echoes from Galilee.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>What means this gathering multitude,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Upon thy shores, O, Galilee,<br /></span> +<span>As various as the billows rude<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>That sweep thy ever restless sea?<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Can but the mandate of a King<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>So varied an assemblage bring?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Behold the noble, rich, and great,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>From Levite, Pharisee and Priest,<br /></span> +<span>Down to the lowest dregs of fate,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>From mightiest even to the least;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Yes, in this motley throng we find<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The palsied, sick, mute, halt, and blind.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Is this some grand affair of state,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>A coronation, or display,<br /></span> +<span>By some vainglorious potentate,—<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Or can this concourse mark the day<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Of some victorious hero's march<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Homeward, through triumphal arch?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Or, have they come to celebrate<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Some sacred sacerdotal rite;<br /></span> +<span>By civic feast, to emulate<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Some deed, on history's pages bright?<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Or can this grand occasion be<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Some battle's anniversary?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>But wherefore come the halt and blind?<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>What comfort can the pain-distressed<br /></span> +<span>In such a tumult hope to find?<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>What is there here, to offer rest<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>To those, whom adverse fate has hurled,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Dismantled, on a hostile world?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Let us approach! A form we see,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Fairest beyond comparison;<br /></span> +<span>For such an heavenly purity,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>From other eyes, hath never shown;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Nor such a calm, majestic brow<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>On earth hath ne'er appeared, till now.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Draw nearer. Lo! a voice we hear,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Resonant, soft, pathetic, sweet;<br /></span> +<span>In ringing accents, calm and clear,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>He sways the thousands at his feet,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>With more than mortal eloquence,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Or man's compassion, in his glance.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Ah! Strange, that such a form should stand<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>In raiment soiled, and travel stained;<br /></span> +<span>Yes, mark the contour of that hand,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>A hand by menial toil profaned.<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Can one from such a station reach<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>All classes by sheer force of speech?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Can eloquence from mortal tongue<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Break through the barriers, which divide<br /></span> +<span>The toiling and down-trodden throng<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>From affluence, and official pride?<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Then how can yonder speaker hold<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>An audience so manifold?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>He spake as never orator<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Before, or since, with burning thought,<br /></span> +<span>In parable, and metaphor;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Each simple illustration taught<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Some sacred truth, some truth which could<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>By sage, or fool, be understood.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>With similes of common things,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The lilies of the field, the salt<br /></span> +<span>Which lost its savour; gently brings<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>A lesson, from the common fault<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Of self-admiring Pharisee,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Of ostentatious piety.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>And from the prostrate penitent,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The Publican, who beat his breast,<br /></span> +<span>Remorsefully his garment rent,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And thus, with tears, his sin confessed;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>"Lord, Lord, a sinner vile am I,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Be merciful, and hear my cry!"<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>And from that man, beset by thieves,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And left upon the road, to die;<br /></span> +<span>No aid or comfort he receives<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>From Priest, or Levite, passing by;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>How the despised Samaritan<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Proved the true neighbor to that man.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Yes, finished with such fervency<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of gesture, and similitude;<br /></span> +<span>Such depths of love, and purity<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>His hearers marvelled, as they stood;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Nor through his discourse, was there heard,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Abusive, vain, or idle word.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Who may this wondrous speaker be?<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Is he some judge, or orator?<br /></span> +<span>Some one in high authority?<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Physician, prince, or conqueror?<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Answer, thou ever restless sea,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Who may this wondrous person be?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>With echoes soft, the sea replies,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>This is a Judge, and Orator;<br /></span> +<span>A Judge, beyond all judges wise,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And eloquent, as none before;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>A Judge, majestic, calm, serene;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And yet, an humble Nazarene.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>He is a Ruler, whose command<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The myriads of the skies obey,<br /></span> +<span>As in the hollow of His hand<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>He holds all human destiny.<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The tempest wild concedes his will,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And calms before His "Peace, be still."<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>A great Physician, too, is He,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Whose word, the leper purifies;<br /></span> +<span>The mute converse, the blind ones see;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>At his command, the dead arise;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>He cures the ravages of sin,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And makes the foulest sinner clean.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>He is a Prince, a Prince whose power<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Knows neither limit nor degree,<br /></span> +<span>Whose glory, not the passing hour,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Nor cycles of futurity,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Can augment, alter, or decrease—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Prince is He, the Prince of Peace.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>He is earth's greatest Conqueror,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>But conquers not with crimson sword;<br /></span> +<span>Love is the weapon of His war,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Forgiveness, and gentle word;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>But, greatest of all victories,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>O'er the dark grave, His banner flies.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Go_And_Sin_No_More'></a><h2><b>Go, And Sin No More.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i1'>When the poor, erring woman sought<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>In tears the Master's feet,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Her breast, with deep contrition fraught,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Repentance, full, complete,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Divine compassion filled His eyes,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>He spake, says Sacred Lore,—<br /></span> +<span>"O, erring heart, forgiven, rise,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Go, thou, and sin no more."<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i1'>The tear of contrite sorrow, shed<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>By penitence, cast down,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Shall flash, when solar rays have fled,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>In an eternal crown;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>That tear shall scintillate, and shine,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>When comets cease to soar;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>If thou would'st wear that gem divine,<br /></span> +<span>Go, thou, and sin no more!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Gently_Lead_Me_Star_Divine'></a><h2><b>Gently Lead Me, Star Divine.</b> </h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i1'>Gently lead me, Star Divine,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Lead with bright unchanging ray;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>O'er my lowly pathway shine,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>I shall never lose my way;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Though uncertain be my tread,<br /></span> +<span>Pitfalls deep, and mountains high,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Safely shall my feet be led,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>By Thy beacon, in the sky.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i1'>Long ago, while journeying<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Westward, o'er the desert wild,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Sages sought a promised King<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>In the person of a child;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>By Thy bright illuminings,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>To that manger, in the fold,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Thou did'st lead those shepherd kings;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Lead me, as Thou lead'st of old.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br><div class="figure"> +<a name='076'></a><img src="images/076.jpg" alt="BEAR CREEK FALLS."> +<h4><a href='#Wherever_I_wander'> "Wherever I wander my ears hear the sound,<br> +Of thy waters which plunge with a turbulent sound."</a><br /><br><br> +BEAR CREEK FALLS, UNCOMPAHGRE CAÑON, NEAR OURAY, COLORADO.</h4></div><br> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Dying_Hymn'></a><h2><b>Dying Hymn.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i1'>The hour-glass speeds its final sands,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>In splendor sinks the golden sun,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>So men must yield to death's demands<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>When human life its course has run.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i1'>We view the ruins of the past,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>We stand surrounded by decay,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Our transient hours are speeding fast<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And, e'er we think, have passed away.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i1'>Weep not, nor mourn with idle tear<br /></span> +<span>That hour, inevitable and sure;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>We move, our sojourn finished here,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>To nobler realms which shall endure.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='In_Mortem_Meditare'></a><h2><b>In Mortem Meditare.</b></h2> + +<div class="subhead">DYING THOUGHTS.</div> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>As Life's receding sunset fades<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>And night descends,<br /></span> +<span>I calmly watch the gathering shades,<br /></span> +<span>As darkness stealthily invades<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>And daylight ends.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Earth's span is drawing to its close,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>With every breath;<br /></span> +<span>My pain-racked brain no respite knows,<br /></span> +<span>Yet shrinks it, from the grim repose<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>It feels in death.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The curtain falls on Life's last scene,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>The end is neared;<br /></span> +<span>At last I face death's somber screen,<br /></span> +<span>The fleeting joys which intervene<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>Have disappeared.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>And as a panoramic scroll<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>The past unreels;<br /></span> +<span>The mocking past, beyond control,<br /></span> +<span>Though buried, as a parchment roll,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>Its tale reveals.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>I stand before the dread, unknown,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>Yet solemn fact;<br /></span> +<span>I see the seeds of folly sown<br /></span> +<span>In wayward years, maturely grown,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>Nor can retract.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>My weaknesses rise to my sight;<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>And now, too late,<br /></span> +<span>I fain would former actions right,<br /></span> +<span>Which years have buried in their flight;<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>Now sealed by fate.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>My frailties and iniquities<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>I plainly see;<br /></span> +<span>Committed acts accusive rise,<br /></span> +<span>Omitted duties criticise<br /></span> +<span>In mockery.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>I feel I have offended oft,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>E'en at my best<br /></span> +<span>Have failed to guide my course aloft;<br /></span> +<span>Perhaps in trival hour, have scoffed<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>With idle jest.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Prone to misgiving, prone to doubt,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>And frail from birth;<br /></span> +<span>More light and frivolous than devout;<br /></span> +<span>With life's brief candle flickering out,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>I speed from earth.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Can grief excuse indifference<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>With groan or tear?<br /></span> +<span>Can deep remorse and penitence,<br /></span> +<span>Or anguish mitigate offense<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>With pang sincere?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Ah! Tears can ne'er unlock the past<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>Which opens not;<br /></span> +<span>And what is done is welded fast,<br /></span> +<span>Through all eternity to last,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>Nor change one jot.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Whate'er may lie beyond the veil<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>I calmly face,<br /></span> +<span>And sink, as grievous tears bewail<br /></span> +<span>My faults and imperfections frail,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>In death's embrace.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>And as I think the matter o'er,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>Pensive and sad,<br /></span> +<span>While its shortcomings I deplore,<br /></span> +<span>The fruits which my existence bore<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>Were not all bad.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>From all which can rejoice or grieve<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>I shortly go,<br /></span> +<span>And now, in life's declining eve<br /></span> +<span>I wonder, hope, try to believe—<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>Soon I shall know!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>My spirit flees, as night enwraps,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>To its reward;<br /></span> +<span>The earth recedes, I feel it lapse;<br /></span> +<span>I sink as dissolution snaps<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>The silver cord.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>O, Thou whose presence I can feel<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>Each hour I live,<br /></span> +<span>While passing through death's stern ordeal,<br /></span> +<span>Wilt Thou Thy mercy still reveal,<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>And still forgive?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Deprive_This_Strange_and_Complex_World'></a><h2><b>Deprive This Strange and Complex World.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Deprive this strange and complex world<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of all the charms of art;<br /></span> +<span>Deprive it of those sweeter joys<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Which music doth impart;<br /></span> +<span>But oh, preserve that smile, which tells<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The secret of the heart!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The world may lose its massive piles<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Which point their spires above;<br /></span> +<span>May spare the tuneful nightingale<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And gently cooing dove;<br /></span> +<span>But woe betide it, if it lose<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The sentiment of love!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='The_Legend_of_St_Regimund'></a><h2><b>The Legend of St. Regimund.</b></h2> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>St. Regimund, e'er he became a saint,<br /></span> +<span>Was much imbued with vulgar earthly taint;<br /></span> +<span>E'er he renounced the honors of a Knight<br /></span> +<span>And doffed his coat of mail and helmet bright,<br /></span> +<span>For sober cassock and monastic hood,<br /></span> +<span>Leaving the castle for the cloister rude,<br /></span> +<span>And changed the banquet's sumptuous repast<br /></span> +<span>For frugal crusts and the ascetic fast;<br /></span> +<span>Forsook his charger and equipments for<br /></span> +<span>The crucifix and sacerdotal war;<br /></span> +<span>While yet with valiant sword and blazoned shield<br /></span> +<span>He braved the dangers of the martial field,<br /></span> +<span>Or sought the antlered trophies of the chase<br /></span> +<span>In forest and sequestered hunting place;<br /></span> +<span>Or, tiring of the hunt's exciting sport,<br /></span> +<span>Enjoyed the idle pleasures of the court,<br /></span> +<span>Whiling away the time with games of chance,<br /></span> +<span>With music and the more voluptuous dance,<br /></span> +<span>The hollow paths of vanity pursued,<br /></span> +<span>Laughed, jested, swore, drank, danced, and even wooed;<br /></span> +<span>No tongue more prone to questionable wit,<br /></span> +<span>Nor chaste, when time and place demanded it;<br /></span> +<span>His basso voice, both voluble and strong,<br /></span> +<span>Excelled in wassail mirth and ribald song;<br /></span> +<span>He swore with oaths most impious and unblest;<br /></span> +<span>Ate much, drank more, on these lines did his best;<br /></span> +<span>Caroused by day, caroused by candle light,<br /></span> +<span>In fact behaved like any other knight.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>This medieval knight (the legend saith)<br /></span> +<span>For months would scarcely draw a sober breath;<br /></span> +<span>But as his appetite grew more and more<br /></span> +<span>Drank each day worse than on the day before;<br /></span> +<span>Was drunk all night, all day continued so,<br /></span> +<span>Indulged in every vice he chanced to know.<br /></span> +<span>But long debauch and riotous excess<br /></span> +<span>Reduce their strongest votaries to distress;<br /></span> +<span>When nature can the strain no longer stand<br /></span> +<span>She chastens with a sure and irate hand,<br /></span> +<span>So when the day of reckoning had come,<br /></span> +<span>She smote with fever and delirium<br /></span> +<span>This valiant knight whom we have tried to paint;<br /></span> +<span>A very slim foundation for a saint!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The crisis reached, his fever stricken brain<br /></span> +<span>Surrendered reason to excessive pain;<br /></span> +<span>Nor moment's respite, comatose and kind,<br /></span> +<span>Relieved the raging furnace of his mind;<br /></span> +<span>And gruesome spectres, awful and unreal,<br /></span> +<span>Through his disordered vagaries would steal;<br /></span> +<span>When last his scorching temples sought repose<br /></span> +<span>In hasty nap or intermittent doze,<br /></span> +<span>His eyes beheld, though starting from his head,<br /></span> +<span>A grizzly figure leaning o'er his bed,<br /></span> +<span>With aspect foul beyond descriptive word,<br /></span> +<span>As one for months in sepulchre interred,<br /></span> +<span>Restored again to animated breath,<br /></span> +<span>A weird composite type of life and death;<br /></span> +<span>With countenance most hideous and vile,<br /></span> +<span>Leering with ghastly and unearthly smile;<br /></span> +<span>Pointing its shriveled finger, as in scorn,<br /></span> +<span>Of mockery and accusation born.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>As he beheld in terror and surprise<br /></span> +<span>This gruesome shape which mocked before his eyes<br /></span> +<span>He could distinguish in its haughty mien<br /></span> +<span>A bearing, something as his own had been;<br /></span> +<span>Nor had its withered visage quite the look<br /></span> +<span>Of vampire, ghoul or evanescent spook;<br /></span> +<span>And as the apparition o'er him bent,<br /></span> +<span>He saw that every seam or lineament,<br /></span> +<span>Contour of feature, prominence of bone,<br /></span> +<span>Bore all a striking semblance to his own.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The horror stricken knight essayed to speak,<br /></span> +<span>But words responded tremulous and weak,<br /></span> +<span>And mustering his dissipated strength,<br /></span> +<span>A sitting posture he assumed at length,—<br /></span> +<span>"Whate'er thou art, thou harbinger of gloom,<br /></span> +<span>Thou fiend or ghoul, fresh from the new made tomb,<br /></span> +<span>Thou vampire, diabolical and fell,<br /></span> +<span>Thou stygian shade or denizen of hell,<br /></span> +<span>I charge thee, thing of evil, to confess<br /></span> +<span>Why thou hast thus disturbed my sore distress.<br /></span> +<span>Why hast thou burst my chamber's bolted door<br /></span> +<span>Where guest unbidden never trod before?<br /></span> +<span>Break this suspense, so horrible and still!<br /></span> +<span>Declare thy tidings, be they good or ill,<br /></span> +<span>Be thou from Heaven or from the realms below.<br /></span> +<span>I charge thee speak, be thou a friend or foe;<br /></span> +<span>Break thou thy silence, ominous and deep,<br /></span> +<span>Or hence! Pursue thy way and let me sleep!"<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The grizzly spectre, still more ghastly grown,<br /></span> +<span>Surveyed with visage obdurate as stone,<br /></span> +<span>Then smiled with grimace of derisive craft,<br /></span> +<span>And in a most repugnant manner, laughed,<br /></span> +<span>But all the knight discerned with eye and ear,<br /></span> +<span>Was his own maudlin laugh and drunken leer.<br /></span> +<span>"Breathe thou thy message," shrieked the frantic knight<br /></span> +<span>"Discharge thy purpose, though it blast and blight,<br /></span> +<span>I charge thee, speak, by all that is most fair.<br /></span> +<span>By all most foul, I charge thee to declare;<br /></span> +<span>By my bright armor and my trusty sword;<br /></span> +<span>I charge thee, speak, by Holy Rood and Word!"<br /></span> +<span>He sank exhausted, in such pallid fright<br /></span> +<span>The snowy sheets looked dark beside such white.<br /></span> +<span>The spectre paused in silence for awhile,<br /></span> +<span>Then broke into a most repulsive smile,<br /></span> +<span>And answered in a weird and hollow tone,<br /></span> +<span>Enough to freeze the marrow in the bone:<br /></span> +<span>"I am thy blasted spirit's counterpart,<br /></span> +<span>A body fit for thy most evil heart,<br /></span> +<span>I am thy life, its psychic image sent<br /></span> +<span>To bear thee company, till thou repent."<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>'Tis said, for forty days the spectre stayed.<br /></span> +<span>For forty days the knight incessant prayed;<br /></span> +<span>With scourge, with vigil and ascetic rite,<br /></span> +<span>With fast, with groan remorseful and contrite,<br /></span> +<span>He cleansed his blackened spirit by degrees,<br /></span> +<span>And purified it from its vanities;<br /></span> +<span>And as he prayed, the spectre's gruesome scowl<br /></span> +<span>Grew day by day less hideous and foul,<br /></span> +<span>As he waxed holy, it became more bright;<br /></span> +<span>And after forty days, arrayed in white<br /></span> +<span>It spread its spotless arms, devoid of taint<br /></span> +<span>Above this erstwhile knight and henceforth saint<br /></span> +<span>In benediction, as he knelt in prayer,—<br /></span> +<span>Then vanished instantly to empty air.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Such is the tale, embellished by the Muse,<br /></span> +<span>'Tis true or false, believe it as you choose;<br /></span> +<span>Some folks accept the story out and out,<br /></span> +<span>While some prefer to entertain a doubt.<br /></span> +<span>But if it be fictitious and unreal,<br /></span> +<span>'Tis not subscribed and sworn, and bears no seal;<br /></span> +<span>It points a moral, as the legend old,<br /></span> +<span>If it conveys it, 'twas not vainly told,<br /></span> +<span>For should I such an apparition see—<br /></span> +<span>I think t'would almost make a monk of me.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='As_The_Indian'></a><h2><b>As The Indian.</b></h2> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i6'><i>Lo, the poor Indian, whose untutored mind</i></span> +<span class='i6'><i>Sees God in the clouds and hears Him in the wind.</i></span> +<span class='i25'><i>—Pope.</i></span> +</div></div> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Within the wind, my untaught ear<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The voice of Deity can hear,<br /></span> +<span>And in the fleeting cloud discern<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>His movements, vast and taciturn;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>For in the universe I trace<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The wondrous grandeur of His face.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>I see him in each blade of grass,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Each towering peak and mountain pass;<br /></span> +<span>Each forest, river, lake and fen<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Reveals the God of worlds and men;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>His works of wisdom prove to me,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>A wise, creative Deity.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='The_Fragrant_Perfume_of_the_Flowers'></a><h2><b>The Fragrant Perfume of the Flowers.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>The fragrant perfume of the flowers,<br /></span> +<span>Exuding in the summer hours,<br /></span> +<span>E'en as the altar's incense rare<br /></span> +<span>Disseminated through the air,<br /></span> +<span>May never reach the azure skies,<br /></span> +<span>Yet can the earth aromatize.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>And so the voice of secret prayer,<br /></span> +<span>Ascending on the wings of air,<br /></span> +<span>Though it should reach no listening ear,<br /></span> +<span>Of Deity inclined to hear,<br /></span> +<span>Still soothes the anguish of the mind,<br /></span> +<span>And leaves a tranquil peace behind.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='An_Answer'></a><h2><b>An Answer.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>When passing years have streaked with frost<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>These tresses now as jet,<br /></span> +<span>When life's meridian is crossed<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And beauty's sun has set,<br /></span> +<span>When youth's last fleeting charm is lost,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Wilt thou be constant yet,<br /></span> +<span>Nor time thy sentiment exhaust<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And cause thee to forget?<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>If so—<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>My answer, I confess,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Shall be a calm, decided "Yes";<br /></span> +<span class='i3'>But otherwise a "No"!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Fame'></a><h2><b>Fame.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>There is a cliff, no matter where,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Which softened by the agencies<br /></span> +<span>Of rain, exposure to the air,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And alternating thaw and freeze,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Most readily admits the edge<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Of chisel, or the sharpened wedge.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The travelers, while passing by,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Within its shade find welcome rest;<br /></span> +<span>And one of them mechanically,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As is a custom in the west,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Upon its surface stern and gray<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Carved out his name, and went his way.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Though inartistic and uncouth,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>That effort of a novice hand<br /></span> +<span>Exemplifies a striking truth,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And may Time's ravages withstand,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>To be by future ages read,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>When years and centuries have fled.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>So on life's mighty thoroughfare,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The multitude of every class<br /></span> +<span>Leave no inscriptions chiseled, where<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Their transient footsteps chanced to pass,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And waft to each succeeding age<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>No echoes from their pilgrimage.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Though many pass, yet few record<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Their names in characters sublime,<br /></span> +<span>By grand achievement, work or word<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Upon the monolith of Time;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>But few inscribe a lasting name<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>On the eternal cliffs of Fame.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='The_First_Storm'></a><h2><b>The First Storm.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>The leafless branch and meadow sere,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The dull and leaden skies,<br /></span> +<span>Join with the mournful wind and drear<br /></span> +<span>In dirges for the passing year,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Which unreturning flies.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The night in starless gloom descends,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Nor can the pale moonshine<br /></span> +<span>Break through the clouds whose veil extends<br /></span> +<span>In boundless form, and darkly blends<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>With the horizon's line.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Fond nature, in a playful mood,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>In cover of the night,<br /></span> +<span>Arrays the plain and forest rude,<br /></span> +<span>The city and the solitude,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>In robe of spotless white.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Thoughts'></a><h2><b>Thoughts.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>I dug a grave, one smiling April day,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>A grave whose small proportions testified<br /></span> +<span>To empty arms, and playthings put away,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>To ears which heard, when only fancy cried;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>I wondered, as I shaped that little mound,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>If in my home such grief should e'er be found.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>I dug a grave, 'twas in the month of June;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>A grave for one who at his zenith died;<br /></span> +<span>When, on that mound with floral tributes strewn,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The tear-drops fell of one but late his bride,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>I wondered if upon my silent bier<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Should rest the moist impression of a tear.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>I dug a grave by Autumn's sober light,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>A grave of full dimensions; 'twas for one<br /></span> +<span>Whose hair had changed its raven hue to white,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Whose course had finished with the setting sun;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>I wondered, as I toiled with pick and spade,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Where, and by whom, would my last home be made.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='From_A_Saxon_Legend'></a><h2><b>From A Saxon Legend.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Within a vale in distant Saxony,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>In time uncertain, though 'twas long ago.<br /></span> +<span>There dwelt a woman, most unhappily,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>From borrowed trouble, and imagined woe.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Hers was a husband generous, and kind,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Her children, three, were not of uncouth mold;<br /></span> +<span>Hers was a thatch which mocked at rain and wind;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Within her secret purse were coins of gold.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The drouth had ne'er descended on her field,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Nor had distemper sore distressed her kine;<br /></span> +<span>The vine had given its accustomed yield,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>So that her casks were filled with ruddy wine.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Her sheep and goats waxed fat, and ample fleece<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Rewarded every harvest of the shear;<br /></span> +<span>Her lambs all bleated in sequestered peace,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Nor prowling wolf occasioned nightly fear.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>With all she fretted, pined, and brooded sore,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Harbored each slight vexation, courted grief,<br /></span> +<span>Shut out the smiling sunshine from her door,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And magnified each care to bas relief.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Still waxed her grievous burden more and more,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Till, with a resolution, rash and blind,<br /></span> +<span>At dead of night she fled her humble door,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As if to leave her grievous load behind.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>She journeyed as the night wore slowly on,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Unmindful of the tuneful nightingale,<br /></span> +<span>Till in due time her footsteps fell upon<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>A hill, the demarcation of the vale.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>As Lot's wife, in her flight, could not refrain<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>From viewing foul Gomorrah's funeral pyre,<br /></span> +<span>From one last glance across that ancient plain,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>At guilty Sodom wreathed in vengeful fire;<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>So when this woman reached the summit's crest,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>She turned her eyes in one last farewell look,<br /></span> +<span>The fruitful vale lay stretched in placid rest,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And all was silent save the breeze and brook.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The moon in partial fullness, mild, serene,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Flooding the landscape with her mellow light,<br /></span> +<span>Illumined every old familiar scene,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Brought their associations to her sight.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>When, lo! as if by touch of magic wand,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>On every roof, of tile, of thatch or wood,<br /></span> +<span>As instantly as magic doth respond,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>A cross, of various size and form there stood.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>O'er homes unknown to frown or grievous word,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>O'er homes where laughter hid the silent wail,<br /></span> +<span>O'er homes where discontent was never heard,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Huge crosses glistened in the moonlight pale.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>A cross o'er every habitation rose,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>O'er ducal palace, and the cottage small<br /></span> +<span>Where slept the husbandman in deep repose;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And, lo, her cross was smallest of them all!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Christmas_Chimes'></a><h2><b>Christmas Chimes.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i1'>Once more the merry Christmas bells,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Are ringing far and wide;<br /></span> +<span>Their chime in rhythmic chorus swells,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>While every brazen throat foretells,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>A joyous Christmastide.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i1'>What is the burden of your chime,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Ye bells of Christmastide?<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>What tidings in your clangorous rhyme,<br /></span> +<span>What message would your tongues sublime<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>To human hearts confide?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i1'>Our chime is of salvation's plan,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And every Christmastide<br /></span> +<span>Since Christmas bells to chime, began<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>We've caroled Heaven's gift to man,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>A Saviour crucified.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='The_Unknowable'></a><h2><b>The Unknowable.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>O! Sun, resplendent in the smiling morn,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>As thou dost view the wastes of earth and sky,<br /></span> +<span>Canst thou behold the realms of the Unborn,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Canst thou behold the realms of those who die?<br /></span> +<span>Where dwells the spirit e'er its mortal birth,<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>E'er yet it suffereth<br /></span> +<span>The pain and sorrow incident to earth?<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>Where after death?<br /></span> +<span>The Sun gave answer, with refulgent glow:<br /></span> +<span>Child of a fleeting hour, thou too must die to know.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Canst tell, thou jeweled canopy of space,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Bewildering, and boundless to the eyes,<br /></span> +<span>Knowest thou the unborn spirits' dwelling place?<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Knowest thou the distant regions of the skies<br /></span> +<span>Where rest the spirits freed from mundane strife,<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>From mortal grief and care?<br /></span> +<span>Knowest thou the secret of the future life?<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>Canst thou tell where?<br /></span> +<span>From Space infinite echoed the reply:<br /></span> +<span>Child of a transient day, thou too, to know, must die.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Ye Winds who blow and cleave the formless skies,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Ye Winds who blow with desolating breath,<br /></span> +<span>Can ye reveal pre-natal mysteries,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And can ye solve the mystery of death?<br /></span> +<span>Within thy ambient and viewless folds<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>Imprisoned in the air,<br /></span> +<span>May not the spirits wait their earthly moulds?<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>Then tell ye where.<br /></span> +<span>The answer came invisible and low:<br /></span> +<span>Frail child of earthly clay, thou too must die to know.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>What are your tidings, O ye raging Seas?<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Do your waves wash the islands of the blest,<br /></span> +<span>Or view the Gardens of Hesperides?<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Know you the unborn spirits' place of rest?<br /></span> +<span>And do your waters lave that unknown shore?<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>And when the night is gone,<br /></span> +<span>Shall the freed spirit, tired and faint no more,<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>Behold the dawn?<br /></span> +<span>The sad sea murmured, as its waves rolled high:<br /></span> +<span>As all those gone before, thou, too, to know, must die.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='The_Suicide'></a><h2><b>The Suicide.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>What anguish rankled 'neath that silent breast?<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>What spectral figures mocked those staring eyes,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Luring them on to Stygian mysteries?<br /></span> +<span>What overpowering sense of grief distressed?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>What desperation nerved that rigid hand<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>To pull the trigger with such deadly aim?<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>What deep remorse, or terror, overcame<br /></span> +<span>The dread inherent, of death's shadowy strand?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Perhaps the hand of unrelenting fate<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Fell with such tragic pressure, that the mind<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>In frenzy, uncontrollable and blind,<br /></span> +<span>Sought but the darkness, black and desolate.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Perhaps 'twas some misfortune's stunning blight,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Perhaps unmerited, though deep disgrace,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Or vision of a wronged accusing face<br /></span> +<span>Pictured indelibly before the sight.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Perhaps the gnawing of some secret sin,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Some aberration fraught with morbid gloom,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>A buried hope which ever burst its tomb,<br /></span> +<span>Despondency, disaster, or chagrin.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>That heart which throbbed in pain and discontent<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Is silent as the grave for which it yearned;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>That brain, which once with proud ambition burned,<br /></span> +<span>Now oozes through the bullet's ghastly rent.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Those eyes, transfixed with such a gruesome stare,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Once beamed with laughter, innocent and bright;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The morning gave no presage of the night;<br /></span> +<span>A smile may be the prelude of despair.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Whate'er his secret, it remains untold,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>For why to human anguish add one groan?<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Is grief the deeper grief because unknown?<br /></span> +<span>So let the grave his form and burden hold.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Ye who have felt no crushing weight of care,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>From blame profuse, in charity refrain;<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Some depths of sorrow overwhelm the brain,<br /></span> +<span>Some loads too great for human strength to bear.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='I_Think_When_I_Stand_In_The_Presence_of_Death'></a><h2><b>I Think When I Stand in the Presence of Death.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>I think when I stand in the presence of Death,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>How futile is earthy endeavor,<br /></span> +<span>If it be, with the flight of the last labored breath,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The tongue has been silenced forever.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>For no message is flashed from the lustreless eyes,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>When clos-ed so languid and weary,<br /></span> +<span>And no voice from the darkness re-echoes our cries,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>In response to the agonized query!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>We gaze at the solemn mysterious shroud<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>With a vague and insatiate yearning,<br /></span> +<span>And perceive but the sombre exterior cloud,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>With our vision of no discerning.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Not a whispering sound, not a glimmer of light,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>From that shadowy strand uncertain;<br /></span> +<span>But He who ordained the day and night,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Framed also Death's silent curtain.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Hope'></a><h2><b>Hope.</b></h2> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>Hope is the shadowy essence of a wish,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>A fond desire which floats before our eyes;<br /></span> +<span>With lurid aberration, feverish,—<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>We clutch the shadow which elusive, flies;<br /></span> +<span>Though at our grasp the mocking fancy flees,<br /></span> +<span>Hope still pursues and soothes realities.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Hope, as a mirage on the desert waste,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Lures the lost traveler, by a vision fair<br /></span> +<span>Of gushing fountains which he may not taste,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of streamlets cool depicted on the air;<br /></span> +<span>With tongue outstretched and parched he onward speeds,<br /></span> +<span>But as he moves the phantom scene recedes.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>In the foul dungeon or the narrow cell,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>The prisoner doth pace his lonely beat,<br /></span> +<span>And as he treads, his shackles clank a knell<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Responsive to each movement of his feet;<br /></span> +<span>Yet through his grated window, he discerns<br /></span> +<span>The star of hope which ever brightly burns.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>A noble ship her ponderous anchor weighs,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Glides from the harbor and is lost to sight;<br /></span> +<span>A young wife waves farewell. As many days<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>In passing turn her golden tresses white,<br /></span> +<span>She scans the horizon through a mist of tears,<br /></span> +<span>Hopes for that vanished sail which ne'er appears.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>A galley slave in age and clime remote,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Chained to his seat, unwilling plies the oar;<br /></span> +<span>Before his eyes fond dreams of freedom float,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>He hopes amid the battle's crash and roar;<br /></span> +<span>And as the waves the imprisoned wretches drown,<br /></span> +<span>Hopes, as his fetters draw him swiftly down.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>A mighty host in force of arms we see,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>With march invasive, cross a boundary line;<br /></span> +<span>At its approach no freemen turn and flee,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Each with his life defends his family shrine;<br /></span> +<span>As burning homes illuminate the sky<br /></span> +<span>With ghastly light, they hope and fight and die.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Beside the bed where rests the pallid form,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Of loved one stricken with the fever's breath,<br /></span> +<span>E'en when the loving hands, no longer warm,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Portend the sure and swift approach of Death,<br /></span> +<span>Hope holds the spirit in its house of clay,<br /></span> +<span>And with that spirit only, soars away.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The guilty wretch, for murder doomed to die,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Hoped, in his dungeon as the death watch paced,<br /></span> +<span>Hoped, as the death cap veiled his evil eye,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Hoped, as the noose around his neck was placed,<br /></span> +<span>Hoped, as the chaplain read his final prayer,<br /></span> +<span>Hoped, as he struggled in the viewless air.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>In the glad sunshine of life's vernal spring,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Hope buoys the spirit with expectancy;<br /></span> +<span>Hope with her dulcet voice and fluttering wing,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>Sings of life's goal with siren harmony;<br /></span> +<span>When silvered temples tell that life declines,<br /></span> +<span>That goal, though yet unreached, still brightly shines.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Yes! As through failure and vicissitude,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>We sail along with many an adverse wind,<br /></span> +<span>Hope plants her beacon in the tempest rude,<br /></span> +<span class='i1'>And leads with generous radiance unconfined;<br /></span> +<span>And when the yawning grave receives its prey,<br /></span> +<span>Hope speeds the spirit on its astral way.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='Metabole'></a><h2><b>Metabole.</b> </h2> + +<div class="subhead">AN APOSTROPHE TO THE MOON.</div> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>O, silvery moon, fair mistress of the night,<br /></span> +<span>Thou mellow, ever vaccilating orb,<br /></span> +<span>How many eons of unmeasured time<br /></span> +<span>Hast thou, observant from thy astral poise,<br /></span> +<span>Thy ever-changing station in the skies,<br /></span> +<span>Beheld the wastes of earth, of air and space—<br /></span> +<span>Ruling the waters, and the sombre night?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Pale queen of night, fair coquette of the skies,<br /></span> +<span>Thou, who with fickle, sweet inconstancy<br /></span> +<span>Receives the smile from the admiring sun,<br /></span> +<span>And straight transmits it to the sordid earth,—<br /></span> +<span>How many cycles of the silent past<br /></span> +<span>Hast thou beheld the rise and fall of man,<br /></span> +<span>His proud ascendency and swift decline;<br /></span> +<span>His zenith and his pitiful decay;<br /></span> +<span>E'er he emerged from out the dismal cave,<br /></span> +<span>His habitation rude and primitive;<br /></span> +<span>E'er yet the forest trembled at his stroke,<br /></span> +<span>E'er his indenting chisel cleaved the stones<br /></span> +<span>And framed the first crude human domicile?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>As time rolled on and human skill advanced<br /></span> +<span>By almost imperceptible degrees<br /></span> +<span>Of slow, experimental tutorage,<br /></span> +<span>Along a nobler, more artistic plane,<br /></span> +<span>He hewed the stones in form of ornament,<br /></span> +<span>Sculptured device of various design,<br /></span> +<span>Embellishment of cunning symmetry,<br /></span> +<span>Man's first attempt to scale the realms of art.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Thou hast beheld him on his suppliant kneel,<br /></span> +<span>Engaged in worship, audible or mute,<br /></span> +<span>Invoking thy protection and thy aid,<br /></span> +<span>Thy gracious favor and beatitude;<br /></span> +<span>With arms outstretched in reverential awe,<br /></span> +<span>Propitiating thee, with fervent prayer<br /></span> +<span>For the remission of thy baleful stroke.<br /></span> +<span>Thou hast beheld his superstitious fear<br /></span> +<span>And heard his curses, and his solemn prayers<br /></span> +<span>As thy dark form eclipsed the smiling sun.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Thou hast beheld him fashion and adorn<br /></span> +<span>The gorgeous altar and the totem pole;<br /></span> +<span>With fervent zeal, and blind simplicity,<br /></span> +<span>From base materials of wood or stone,<br /></span> +<span>Carve out a God, then kneel and worship it.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Thou, too, hast heard the slave-whip's poignant crack,<br /></span> +<span>The sound of avarice and turpitude,<br /></span> +<span>As hands unwilling plied their arduous task,<br /></span> +<span>Creating monuments to iron will,<br /></span> +<span>Human injustice, greed and servitude.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Thou hast beheld him shape the pyramids,<br /></span> +<span>Heap up the mound and build the massive wall,<br /></span> +<span>Create the castle and the towering spire,<br /></span> +<span>The ponderous dome and stately edifice.<br /></span> +</div> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><br /> +<div class='stanza'> +<span>From thy observant orbit in the skies,<br /></span> +<span>Did'st thou behold that sacrilegious tower,<br /></span> +<span>Which reared its massive form on Babel's plain,<br /></span> +<span>Built by misguided and presumptuous men,<br /></span> +<span>In vain and ineffectual attempt<br /></span> +<span>To scale the heavens surreptitiously?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>E'er the completion of the impious pile,<br /></span> +<span>Thou mayest have heard, with silent nonchalance,<br /></span> +<span>That strange catastrophe of human speech,<br /></span> +<span>That dire confusion of the languages,<br /></span> +<span>Confounding all the tongues and dialects<br /></span> +<span>To unknown chaos of peculiar sounds.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Changing the conversation of the day<br /></span> +<span>To accents strange and unintelligible,<br /></span> +<span>Unlike to common and accepted terms;<br /></span> +<span>To tones mysterious and unnatural,<br /></span> +<span>Conglomerated forms of utterance<br /></span> +<span>Which bore no semblance to the human voice.<br /></span> +<span>Some rent the air with unaccustomed words<br /></span> +<span>Striving in desperation to converse,<br /></span> +<span>With ears which heard, but could not understand.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Some cursed, with oaths unknown to all but them,<br /></span> +<span>While some essayed to frame the words of prayer,<br /></span> +<span>Or to articulate the stern command,<br /></span> +<span>And one, in most supreme authority,<br /></span> +<span>Declaimed a ponderous regal ordinance,<br /></span> +<span>But heard a sea of unfamiliar sounds,<br /></span> +<span>Confused and desultory turbulence, and dissonance of harsh, discordant tones,<br /></span> +<span>Instead of due attention and applause;<br /></span> +<span>Nor were his words and usual forms of speech<br /></span> +<span>Respected by the idle, wondering craft,<br /></span> +<span>Which lately comprehended and obeyed.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Workmen addressed each other, but conveyed<br /></span> +<span>No sense of meaning in their jargonings;<br /></span> +<span>Nor had cognizance from the stammered tones,<br /></span> +<span>Answered in turn, in verbal nothingness;<br /></span> +<span>The crabbed cynic might no longer rail;<br /></span> +<span>Nor those of sober countenance discourse<br /></span> +<span>In melancholy and foreboding strains;<br /></span> +<span>Nor light and frivolous sons of levity<br /></span> +<span>On others perpetrate the humorous jest;<br /></span> +<span>Fathers attempted to correct their sons,<br /></span> +<span>Who, listening with filial reverence,<br /></span> +<span>Heard but unknown and strange garrulity.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Some shrank in terror, as their ears discerned<br /></span> +<span>Their own distorted efforts to converse;<br /></span> +<span>Some ran in aimless frenzy to and fro,<br /></span> +<span>Falling upon the earth with frantic cries;<br /></span> +<span>Some stood in gaping wonder, nor perceived<br /></span> +<span>The dire calamity, which bound them all<br /></span> +<span>In one unbroken chain of misery.<br /></span> +<span>Some beat their breasts in paroxysmal woe;<br /></span> +<span>Some wore the driveling look of idiocy;<br /></span> +<span>Some lost their reason and serenely smiled;<br /></span> +<span>Some stalked with features imperturbable,<br /></span> +<span>Finding no tear nor vent for their distress;<br /></span> +<span>Some groaned, some shrieked, some wept in their despair,<br /></span> +<span>Relaxing all attempts at vocal speech;<br /></span> +<span>Some recognized the face but not the voice<br /></span> +<span>Of some familiar friend, and grasped the hand,<br /></span> +<span>Spoke with the eyes, when words no longer served.<br /></span> +</div> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><br /> +<div class='stanza'> +<span>Did'st thou behold that temple which arose<br /></span> +<span>On Mount Moriah's slope, the proud result<br /></span> +<span>Of the endeavors of a noble race,<br /></span> +<span>Whose tireless energy and wondrous skill<br /></span> +<span>In architecture and the various arts<br /></span> +<span>Were famed throughout the world; whose nimble hands<br /></span> +<span>Carved out the pillar and the pedestal,<br /></span> +<span>The column, polished and cylindrical,<br /></span> +<span>The slab and ornamented architrave<br /></span> +<span>From Parian marble of unblemished hue;<br /></span> +<span>With stately cedars from the sloping sides<br /></span> +<span>Of proud but long denuded Lebanon,<br /></span> +<span>Erected that superb and marvelous pile<br /></span> +<span>Whose wondrous grandeur and imposing form,<br /></span> +<span>Correct proportions and true symmetry<br /></span> +<span>And perfect uniformity of shape,<br /></span> +<span>Beauty of contour and embellishment,<br /></span> +<span>Splendor of finish and magnificence,<br /></span> +<span>Excelled the proudest edifice of earth—<br /></span> +<span>A fitting tribute to the Deity?<br /></span> +</div> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><br /> +<div class='stanza'> +<span>Thou hast beheld the triumphs of his skill<br /></span> +<span>Touched by the desolating hand of time,<br /></span> +<span>Crumble, disintegrate and pass away—<br /></span> +<span>Resolved to pristine particles of dust.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>His strongest castle, bold and insolent,<br /></span> +<span>Of warlike aspect and defiant mien,<br /></span> +<span>With wall and rampart unassailable,<br /></span> +<span>Impregnable to the assaults of man—<br /></span> +<span>Surrender at the mold's insidious tread.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i5'>Thou hast beheld<br /></span> +<span>His palace and his most exalted courts<br /></span> +<span>Bestrewn with fragments of the Peristyle;<br /></span> +<span>The broken column, slab and monolith<br /></span> +<span>O'erhung with pendant moss and slimy mold;<br /></span> +<span>Its dismal haunts and gloomy apertures<br /></span> +<span>Become the habitation of the bat,<br /></span> +<span>The hissing serpent and the scorpion,<br /></span> +<span>The basking lizard dull and indolent,<br /></span> +<span>And forms of reptile, foul and venomous.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The throne where ruled the king with iron sway<br /></span> +<span>Is vacant as the empty wastes of air,<br /></span> +<span>Is ruled by desolation and decay.<br /></span> +<span>No more the sceptered voice in stern command<br /></span> +<span>Rings through its halls, nor can the dazzling flash<br /></span> +<span>Of the tiara and the diadem,<br /></span> +<span>The ensign and insignia of power,<br /></span> +<span>The emblazoned crest and jeweled coat of arms,<br /></span> +<span>Or proud escutcheon of illustrious name<br /></span> +<span>Excite with envy or inspire with fear.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The boisterous carousal and the sound<br /></span> +<span>Of wassail mirth, inebriate and loud,<br /></span> +<span>And midnight revelry, is hushed and still.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i5'>Time shifts the scenes—<br /></span> +<span>The haughty prince and the most abject slave,<br /></span> +<span>Who cowered and trembled 'neath his austere glance,<br /></span> +<span>The fawning and ignoble sycophant,<br /></span> +<span>The courtier and the basest serf, have met<br /></span> +<span>On equal terms beneath the silent dust.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>From thy celestial 'minions thou hast seen<br /></span> +<span>His proudest temples sink into decay,<br /></span> +<span>Grim desolation and desuetude;<br /></span> +<span>The silent hush succeed the plaintive hymn,<br /></span> +<span>The anthem cease to swell in rhythmic praise,<br /></span> +<span>Or vaulted dome re-echo with the sound<br /></span> +<span>Of pipe, of organ, harp and dulcimer;<br /></span> +<span>The voice of sacerdotal eloquence<br /></span> +<span>Become as silent as the unborn thought;<br /></span> +<span>The fragrant perfume of the frankincense,<br /></span> +<span>The scent of swinging censor and of myrrh,<br /></span> +<span>Supplanted by foul odors of decay;<br /></span> +<span>The sacred flame extinguished and forgot,<br /></span> +<span>Its votaries and congregations fled;<br /></span> +<span>The forms who ministered and forms who knelt,<br /></span> +<span>The burnished altar and the hoary priest,<br /></span> +<span>Commingling their atoms in the dust.<br /></span> +</div> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><br /> +<div class='stanza'> +<span>Thou, too, hast heard the clash of hostile arms,<br /></span> +<span>The blast of trumpet and the martial tread,<br /></span> +<span>The neigh of charger anxious for the fray,<br /></span> +<span>The din and the confusion of the fight,<br /></span> +<span>The noise and turmoil of contending hosts,<br /></span> +<span>The crunch of breaking bones and shrieks of pain;<br /></span> +<span>The angry challenge and defiant taunt,<br /></span> +<span>The cries of rage and curses of despair,<br /></span> +<span>The dying groan and gnash of clench-ed teeth,<br /></span> +<span>The plea for mercy, with uplifted arms,<br /></span> +<span>As through the bosom plunged the ruthless steel;<br /></span> +<span>The clank of shackles and the captives groan,<br /></span> +<span>As marched the vanquished forth to servitude,<br /></span> +<span>To ceaseless toil rewarded by the scourge;<br /></span> +<span>To stand within the slave marts and endure<br /></span> +<span>The taunts and bear the chains of slavery.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Did'st thou look down with neutral radiance<br /></span> +<span>On that incursion from the Scythian plain,<br /></span> +<span>A surging multitude beyond the power<br /></span> +<span>Of mental computation and which seemed<br /></span> +<span>A seething mass of spears and shapes of war,<br /></span> +<span>A sea of bellicose barbarity,<br /></span> +<span>O'erwhelming helpless and ill-fated Tyre<br /></span> +<span>With a resistless deluge of the sword?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Or when that vast and uncomputed horde<br /></span> +<span>Swept westward from the steppes of Tartary<br /></span> +<span>With stern Atilla riding at its head,<br /></span> +<span>Leaving in ruthless Mongol truculence,<br /></span> +<span>Awake, both red and blackened by the torch;<br /></span> +<span>The scourge<a name='FNanchor_F_6'></a><a href='#Footnote_F_6'><sup>[F]</sup></a>, perhaps of God, perhaps of Hell!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Did'st thou not flinch when t'ward the Christian west<br /></span> +<span>The fell invasion of the Saracen<br /></span> +<span>Headed its course with crimson scimitar;<br /></span> +<span>Supplanting the mild precepts of the Cross<br /></span> +<span>With those of lust, of hate and bigotry?<br /></span> +</div> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><br /> +<div class='stanza'> +<span>Did'st thou not weep when proud Atlantis sunk<br /></span> +<span>Beneath the surging and engulfing waves,<br /></span> +<span>The aftermath of Earth's most tragic shock;<br /></span> +<span>Or when the ark, upon that greatest flood,<br /></span> +<span>Which from the black and pregnant heavens fell.<br /></span> +<span>For forty days and forty weary nights,<br /></span> +<span>Above the ruins of a deluged world,<br /></span> +<span>Floated in safety with its living freight?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Did'st Thou look down in idle apathy,<br /></span> +<span>When grim Vesuvius, from his dormant rest<br /></span> +<span>Awoke, in molten fury, and o'ercame<br /></span> +<span>With liquid flood and scoriaceous hail<br /></span> +<span>The sleeping cities which beneath him lay;<br /></span> +<span>Interring with such fiery burial<br /></span> +<span>That neither remnant nor inhabitant<br /></span> +<span>Escaped from that both grave and funeral pyre;<br /></span> +<span>Nor vestige of their proud magnificence<br /></span> +<span>Rose from the scene with charred and blackened form;<br /></span> +<span>And rolling centuries, in passing, left<br /></span> +<span>But dim remembrance in the minds of men?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Did'st thou, in age more ancient and remote,<br /></span> +<span>Gaze from thy poise with cold complacency<br /></span> +<span>Upon the guilty cities<a name='FNanchor_G_7'></a><a href='#Footnote_G_7'><sup>[G]</sup></a> of the plain,<br /></span> +<span>Surcharged with lust and the extremes of sin,<br /></span> +<span>Which Holy Writ avers, when 'neath the shower<br /></span> +<span>Of well deserved combustion from the skies,<br /></span> +<span>They sunk in conflagration with their vice;<br /></span> +<span>And perishing, to ages yet to come<br /></span> +<span>Bequeathed a foul and blasted heritage,<br /></span> +<span>An infamous and execrated name?<br /></span> +</div> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><br /> +<div class='stanza'> +<span>Art thou to human anguish so inured<br /></span> +<span>That thou hast neither sentiment of grief<br /></span> +<span>Nor sense of pity for terrestrial ills?<br /></span> +<span>Can agonizing and heart-rending scenes<br /></span> +<span>Relax thy obdurate and placid face<br /></span> +<span>To semblance of emotion? Can man's woes<br /></span> +<span>Excite thy tranquil immobility<br /></span> +<span>To the pathetic look of tenderness,<br /></span> +<span>Or touch thy bosom's calm indifference<br /></span> +<span>With profuse throbs of sympathetic ruth?<br /></span> +<span>Can'st thou unmoved behold the widow's tears,<br /></span> +<span>Or those of orphaned childish innocence,<br /></span> +<span>Or those which wondering infant eyes have shed<br /></span> +<span>On unresponsive breasts, which nevermore<br /></span> +<span>Throb with maternal warmth and suckle them?<br /></span> +<span>Can'st thou with cold, unsympathizing light<br /></span> +<span>Illuminate the ruined maid's despair<br /></span> +<span>Without the echo of a lunar groan?<br /></span> +<span>Hast thou no pang of sorrow or regret<br /></span> +<span>For guilty man, nor tear for his distress,<br /></span> +<span>Or are the tides within thy moist control<br /></span> +<span>The copious weepings of thy mellow lids—<br /></span> +<span>Thy sea of teardrops shed for human woes?<br /></span> +</div> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><br /> +<div class='stanza'> +<span>Did'st thou behold, when that most favored star,<br /></span> +<span>Transcending in refulgence all the orbs<br /></span> +<span>Of boundless and bejewelled firmament,<br /></span> +<span>With flash of overwhelming brilliancy<br /></span> +<span>Plunged through the wondering heavens, whose pale spheres<br /></span> +<span>In contrast dimmed to insignificance,<br /></span> +<span>And gliding through the twinkling realms of space,<br /></span> +<span>Burst with such splendor as the envious stars<br /></span> +<span>Had never witnessed since the heavens stood;<br /></span> +<span>Halting in glory o'er Judea's plain?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Halted and burned in stellar reverence,<br /></span> +<span>Above a fold where wrapped in swaddling clothes<br /></span> +<span>A new-born infant in a manger lay;<br /></span> +<span>In humble contrast to the throne of light,<br /></span> +<span>He left to tread the thorny paths of earth;<br /></span> +<span>In undefiled and stainless innocence,<br /></span> +<span>Which earth with all her foul iniquities<br /></span> +<span>Might never tarnish nor pollute with sin.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Perhaps upon that sage triumvirate<br /></span> +<span>Which journeyed from the famed and affluent East,<br /></span> +<span>In regal pomp and rich munificence,<br /></span> +<span>To lay their costly presents at His feet<br /></span> +<span>And worship at that new-born infant's shrine,<br /></span> +<span>Thou shed'st thy mellow rays and lit the way<br /></span> +<span>O'er deserts to the hills of Bethlehem;<br /></span> +<span>Dividing honors with that prince of stars.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Wert thou a witness on that selfsame night<br /></span> +<span>When humble shepherds on Judea's hills,<br /></span> +<span>Watching their flocks with all attentive care,<br /></span> +<span>Beheld unwonted grandeur in the skies?<br /></span> +<span>The ordinary stars were glittering<br /></span> +<span>In unaccustomed glory, and the orbs<br /></span> +<span>Which twinkle in that pale celestial train<br /></span> +<span>Which cleaves in twain the ambient universe,<br /></span> +<span>Had changed their milky hue to that of gold;<br /></span> +<span>But all the forms of stellar brilliancy<br /></span> +<span>Made way for that most bright and luminous<br /></span> +<span>Which glowed with holy radiance, which might<br /></span> +<span>Not emanate from aught but sacred star;<br /></span> +<span>Dispensing such serene magnificence<br /></span> +<span>That e'en the admiring heavens stood abashed.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i6'>At such a sight,<br /></span> +<span>Though savoring more of blessing than of curse,<br /></span> +<span>Small marvel 'twas their unenlightened minds<br /></span> +<span>Were seized with sudden and peculiar fear,<br /></span> +<span>So that their trembling knees together smote.<br /></span> +<span>And as they stood<br /></span> +<span>In awestruck trepidation and alarm<br /></span> +<span>The heavens as the bifurcated door<br /></span> +<span>Of some familiar, hospitable tent,<br /></span> +<span>Parted their gorgeous curtains and disclosed<br /></span> +<span>A multitude of the celestial host,<br /></span> +<span>Numerous beyond all efforts to compute,<br /></span> +<span>Solemn of countenance, yet beautiful<br /></span> +<span>Beyond the comprehension of the eye,<br /></span> +<span>Surging in such immaculate array<br /></span> +<span>Of various raiment as the stainless white<br /></span> +<span>Of snows which countless centuries have placed<br /></span> +<span>On rugged Ararat's tremendous heights,<br /></span> +<span>Were blended in an essence!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span class='i7'>Then for a moment's time<br /></span> +<span>The heavens were silent as those forms were fair;<br /></span> +<span>Then instantly throughout the realms of light<br /></span> +<span>Was heard a crash in sacred unison,<br /></span> +<span>As all the trumpets and the harps of heaven<br /></span> +<span>And all the varied instruments of earth<br /></span> +<span>Had burst in one grand, detonating chord;<br /></span> +<span>Now rose the quavering, vibratory tones<br /></span> +<span>Of flageolet and solitary reed;<br /></span> +<span>Now as a blending of all instruments<br /></span> +<span>In echoing harmonics, sweet and low,<br /></span> +<span>In soft reverberating resonance;<br /></span> +<span>The voice of cornet and sonorous horn<br /></span> +<span>Blent with the warbling accents of the flute<br /></span> +<span>And chime of mellow bells, unknown to earth;<br /></span> +<span>Pæan of dulcimer and harpsichord<br /></span> +<span>In combination of concordant tone,<br /></span> +<span>Melting the stars with dulcet symphony.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>But sweeter than those instruments of joy,<br /></span> +<span>Tuned by angelic fingers, rose the strains<br /></span> +<span>Of vocal concord and mellifluence,<br /></span> +<span>As swelled in chorus those seraphic throats<br /></span> +<span>In falling cadence and ecstatic flight,<br /></span> +<span>Surpassing heaven's grandest melody<br /></span> +<span>In all that appertains to choral song!<br /></span> +<span>The acme of celestial harmony<br /></span> +<span>Which angel ears discerned with glad surprise;<br /></span> +<span>But sweeter than that song, the glad refrain<br /></span> +<span>Wafted from angel tongues innumerable,<br /></span> +<span>To earth and the inhabitants thereof,<br /></span> +<span>"Peace! Peace on Earth, the Deity's Good Will!"<br /></span> +</div> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><br /> +<div class='stanza'> +<span>Didst thou not shrink, when on Golgotha's crest<br /></span> +<span>Three crosses as three grizzly spectres rose,<br /></span> +<span>Spreading their ghastly arms protestingly,<br /></span> +<span>In silent malediction o'er the scene,<br /></span> +<span>And even nature paused and stood aghast<br /></span> +<span>In shuddering horror at the awful sight,<br /></span> +<span>Relaxing with the trembling earthquake shock<br /></span> +<span>Her sympathetic tension?<br /></span> +<span>And when the lightning rent the canopy<br /></span> +<span>Of black sepulchral clouds, which like a shroud<br /></span> +<span>Enveloped earth on that terrific night,<br /></span> +<span>They lit a face compassionate and pure,<br /></span> +<span>E'en from beneath the cruel crown of thorns<br /></span> +<span>Glancing in pity, kindled not with wrath<br /></span> +<span>At his tormentors, those who loved him not—<br /></span> +<span>The multitude which surged about the cross<br /></span> +<span>Cursing with accents vile and crying loud,<br /></span> +<span>Crucify Him! Crucify Him!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"Rejected and despised of men—"<br /></span> +<span>Earth, which hath ever slain her noblest sons,<br /></span> +<span>Slays also her Redeemer!<br /></span> +</div> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><br /> +<div class='stanza'> +<span>Creation is but systematized decay,<br /></span> +<span>And <i>Change</i> is blazoned on the very skies,<br /></span> +<span>As in ephemeral telluric scenes,<br /></span> +<span>And through the whole cosmogony of worlds,<br /></span> +<span>Is written and rewritten!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Thou who hast seen the stately mastodon<br /></span> +<span>Roam at his will o'er earth's prolific plains,<br /></span> +<span>And the unwieldy megatherium<br /></span> +<span>Dragging his cumbrous, disproportioned weight<br /></span> +<span>Through quaternary marsh and stagnant fen;<br /></span> +<span>Or watched the ichthyosaurus plow the seas,<br /></span> +<span>Churning the waters till the glistening foam<br /></span> +<span>Rode on the greenish undulating waves;<br /></span> +<span>And huge saurian and reptilian shapes<br /></span> +<span>Amphibious and pelagic, swim and crawl,<br /></span> +<span>Cleaving the waters with tremendous strokes,<br /></span> +<span>Writhing with foul contortions in disport,<br /></span> +<span>Splashing and laving in the thermal seas<br /></span> +<span>Of the remote and prehistoric past;<br /></span> +<span>Thou who hast seen them fail and pass away<br /></span> +<span>Shalt also shine when man has disappeared.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>Thou who hast seen the rank luxuriance<br /></span> +<span>Of vegetation flourish and decay,<br /></span> +<span>Vanish and pass away insensibly,<br /></span> +<span>Perish from off the earth which nourished it,<br /></span> +<span>And time supplant its rich exuberance<br /></span> +<span>With arid wastes of bleak sterility;<br /></span> +<span>Wilt thou look down in silent unconcern<br /></span> +<span>When countless eons of denuding time<br /></span> +<span>Have rendered earth as barren as thyself,<br /></span> +<span>Bereft of verdure's last habiliment;<br /></span> +<span>When men, with all their passions and desires,<br /></span> +<span>Their strange combines of evil and of good,<br /></span> +<span>Their proud achievements and exalted aims<br /></span> +<span>Have passed away forever?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>The universe is but a sepulcher<br /></span> +<span>For worlds defunct, as earth for living forms!<br /></span> +<span>And thou, O Moon, who hast surveyed all this<br /></span> +<span>Thyself shalt be consumed with fervent heat,<br /></span> +<span>For e'en the firmament shall pass away.<br /></span> +</div> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><br /> +<div class='stanza'> +<span class='i7'>Supreme Intelligence,<br /></span> +<span>Thou who createst worlds and satellites,<br /></span> +<span>(And Who canst estimate the universe)<br /></span> +<span>Weighing the heavens in Thy balances,<br /></span> +<span>Who hast ordained the laws of cosmic space<br /></span> +<span>To guide aright the planetary spheres;<br /></span> +<span>Thou Ruler of the infinite and great,<br /></span> +<span>Alike of vast and infinitesimal;<br /></span> +<span>Thou fundamental cause of all that is,<br /></span> +<span>In process of creation and decay,<br /></span> +<span>In the mutation and the ravages<br /></span> +<span>Sequent of constant lapse and flight of time<br /></span> +<span>Reveal Thy laws that we may follow them:<br /></span> +<span>Help us to recognize in all Thy works,<br /></span> +<span>Whether of atom or stupendous mass,<br /></span> +<span>The hand of Deity.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_F_6'></a><a href='#FNanchor_F_6'>[F]</a><div class='note'><p> Atilla was believed by the early Christians to have been a scourge +sent direct from God, and some historians aver that he himself +encouraged the belief.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_G_7'></a><a href='#FNanchor_G_7'>[G]</a><div class='note'><p> Sodom and Gommorah.</p></div> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> + +<h3>FINIS.</h3> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13809 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + |