Classic Poem

( Selections )

How priceless is the lesson that we learn
From Nature's bright, yet ever-varying page!
In youth's warm glow, when rays of promise burn,
And in the frosty evening of old age,
One joy abides within the fervent heart,
Which only can with life and hope depart.
It is to gaze on Nature, and to feel,
Though time may on our pathway darkly steal
And veil the firmanent with gathering shades,
That her surpassing beauty never fades;
That slow decay can never waste her forms
Of stirring grandeur or serene repose: —
Around her sweep the lightning-pinioned storms,
Upon her bosom rest the glittering snows,
Still she survives, and, undecaying, smiles;
Her waters leap in gladness to the sea,
Brighter than emeralds gleam her myriad isles,
Along her shores, the soft gale wafted free,
O'er the vast continent careering, flings
Odor and freshness from its balmy wings!
Hence in youth's vigor and defenceless age,
We read this lesson on her lustrous page; —
" The spirit that pervades us cannot die;
The form it animates may coldly lie
In the dark dwelling-place from whence it came;
The soul shall live eternally the same! "
Life cannot pass away — the vernal bloom
Will spread its beauty even o'er a tomb;
The tree, once riven by the crushing storm,
In greener robes may clothe its stately form;
The stream released from Winter's icy chain,
Will flash more joyously in Spring's mild reign;
And purer, clearer, seems the light that flows
Where parted clouds the stainless heaven disclose —
So, when this dull humanity decays,
Bright and immortal is the spirit's blaze.
This truth celestial will forever shine,
To gild the waves of life's uncertain sea,
An emanation from the source divine
Where glory dwells — the shrine of Deity.
Illumining creation, it will cheer
Our young, unsullied morning with its light,
And, when the shadows of past years appear,
Extend along the dim, approaching night.
Distrust and doubt and fear will never spread
Their ill-foreboding shadows, to conceal
The ray that time will on existence shed,
If, in the lesson Nature will reveal
To such as love her truly, we can find
Some glorious emblems of the deathless mind.

*****

I breathe one name, because in yonder halls
It shed an early and a beauteous light,
As softly sweet as that which sometimes falls
On a white temple in a silvery night.
He worshipped Learning in her ancient forms,
And steeped his mind in farthest classic lore;
Study to him was like the sun that warms,
And books the rays that did a lustre pour
Into his being — but his lamp grew pale;
For he did love old knowledge better far
Than Nature's teachings — so his life did fail,
As fails the glory of the morning star.
Goldsborough! I knew thee but a few, brief days,
Yet knew full well thy worth above all praise.