Classic Poem

Farewell! Farewell!
Like the chiming of the bells,
Which a tale of triumph tells;
As the news in tuneful notes,
Leaping from the brazen throats,
On the startled ether floats; —
So in freedom, great and glorious,
Over flesh and sense victorious,
Does the Spirit leap the barrier which across its pathway lies!
Greater far than royal Caesar,
Fearless as the northern Æsir,
Drawn by Love's celestial magnet, winged with faith and hope it flies,
Upward o'er the starry pathway, leading onward through the skies,
To the land of Light and Beauty, where no bud of promise dies.

There, through all the vast Empyrean,
Wafted, as on gales Hesperian,
Comes the stirring cry of " Progress " ! telling of the yet to be.
Tuneful as a seraph's lyre,
" Come up higher! Come up higher! "
Cry the hosts of holy angels; " learn the heavenly Masonry:
Life is one eternal progress: enter, then, the Third Degree; —
Ye who long for light and wisdom seek the Inner Mystery!

Thus, O Sons of Earth, I leave you! — leave you for that higher light;
And my charge is now, Receive you all my parting words aright:
Human passion, mad ambition, bound me to this lower Earth,
Even in my changed condition — even in my higher birth.
But, by earnest, firm endeavor, I have gained a height sublime;
And I ne'er again — no, never! — shall be bound to Space or Time;
I have conquered! and forever! Let the bells in triumph chime!
" Come up higher! " cry the angels: " come up to the Royal Arch!
Come and join the Past Grand Masters, in the Soul's progressive march,
O, thou neophyte of Wisdom! Come up to the Royal Arch! "

Sons of Earth! where'er ye dwell,
Break Temptation's magic spell!
Truth is Heaven, and Falsehood, Hell!
Lawless Lust a demon fell!
Sons of Earth! where'er ye dwell, —
In this Heaven, or in this Hell, —
When ye hear the solemn swell
Of Creation's mighty bell
Sounding forth Time's funeral knell,
Ye shall meet me where I dwell; —
Until then — Farewell ! Farewell !