In the full strength of years, matron and maid, By those who in their turn shall follow them. So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan, which moves To that mysterious realm, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS THIS is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign, The venturous bark that flings On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings And coral reefs lie bare, Where the cold sea maids rise to sun their streaming hair. Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl; Wrecked is the ship of pearl! And every chambered cell, Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell, Before thee lies revealed, Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed! Year after year beheld the silent toil That spread his lustrous coil; Still, as the spiral grew, He left the past year's dwelling for the new, Built up its idle door, Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more. Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee, Child of the wandering sea, Cast from her lap, forlorn ! From thy dead lips a clearer note is born While on mine ear it rings, Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings: Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea! OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. SELF-DEPENDENCE WEARY of myself, and sick of asking And a look of passionate desire O'er the sea and to the stars I send : "Ye who from my childhood up have calm'd me, Calm me, ah, compose me to the end! "Ah, once more," I cried, "ye stars, ye waters, On my heart your mighty charm renew; Still, still let me, as I gaze upon you, Feel my soul becoming vast like you!" From the intense, clear, star-sown vault of heaven, In the rustling night-air came the answer : "Wouldst thou be as these are? Live as they. "Unaffrighted by the silence round them, These demand not that the things without them "And with joy the stars perform their shining, In what state God's other works may be, O air-born voice! long since, severely clear, MATTHEW ARNOLD. THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB THE Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide, And there lay the rider distorted and pale, And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail, LORD BYRON. THE BRIDGE I STOOD On the bridge at midnight, I saw her bright reflection And far in the hazy distance Of that lovely night in June, Among the long, black rafters, The wavering shadows lay, And the current that came from the ocean Seemed to lift and bear them away; As, sweeping and eddying through them, Rose the belated tide, And, streaming into the moonlight, The sea-weed floated wide. And like those waters rushing In the days that had gone by, I had wished that the ebbing tide Yet whenever I cross the river On its bridge with wooden piers, And I think how many thousands I see the long procession Still passing to and fro, The young heart hot and restless, And forever and forever, As long as the river flows, As long as the heart has passions, The moon and its broken reflection HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. SONG IN IMITATION OF THE ELIZABETHANS SWEETEST Sweets that time hath rifled Still desire them, still enjoy. Idly clanged the sullen portal, Fame the mighty, Love the immortal, Nor may captive Death refuse Homage to the conquering Muse. WILLIAM WATSON. SOVEREIGN POETS THEY who create rob death of half its stings; His sceptre reaches o'er remotest zones; When Kings are dust beside forgotten thrones. LLOYD MIFFLIN. |