University of Virginia Library


12

THE BRIDGE.

Where, as a lordly dream,
Glides the deep-winding stream
For evermore;
Calm, as in conscious strength,
Bends thy majestic length,
From shore to shore.
Life, in its fevered heat,
Surges, with pulsing feet,
Restless, above;
Doomed, in its anxious flow,
Like the strong tide below,
Onward to move.
Strange is the motley throng!
Hearts yet untaught of wrong,
Thoughtless of pain,
Mingle with souls accurs'd,
Sands in a desert thirst—
Clouds without rain.
While o'er thee and below
Swift the twin currents flow,
Thy form serene,
Still as the shades that sleep
On the reflecting deep
Arches between.

13

O that, all strife above,
Strong in the strength thereof
Man evermore
Built, with a broader span,
Love for his fellow-man
From shore to shore!