Classic Poem

Of life's past woes, the fading trace
Hath given that aged patriarch's face
Expression, holy, deep, resign'd,
The calm sublimity of mind.

Years o'er his snowy head have pass'd,
And left him of his race the last;
Alone on earth, but yet his mien
Is bright with majesty serene;

And those high hopes, whose guiding star
Shines from eternal words afar,
Have with that light illumed his eye
Whose fount is immortality.

And o'er his features pour'd a ray
Of glory not to pass away,
He seems a being who hath known
Communion with his God alone.

On earth by nought but pity's tie,
Detain'd a moment from on high;
One to sublimer worlds allied,
One from all passions purified.

E'en now half-mingled with the sky,
And all prepared, oh! not to die,
But like the prophet, to aspire
To Heaven's triumphal car of fire.