The poetical remains of William Sidney Walker ... Edited with a memoir of the author by the Rev. J. Moultrie |
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STANZAS.
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 | The poetical remains of William Sidney Walker |  |
117
STANZAS.
[Nay, let us hope! it is not vain—]
Nay, let us hope! it is not vain—
Though many and many a joy be flown:
Sublimer blessings yet remain—
A few rich hearts are still our own;
Though many and many a joy be flown:
Sublimer blessings yet remain—
A few rich hearts are still our own;
A few, a very few, whose love
Nor fate nor years from us can sever;
And guiding light from Heaven above;
And Time, that smiles on firm endeavour.
Nor fate nor years from us can sever;
And guiding light from Heaven above;
And Time, that smiles on firm endeavour.
There is a manliness in hope,
It sets the exorcis'd spirit free
To burst the present's cloudy cope,
And breathe in clear futurity.
It sets the exorcis'd spirit free
To burst the present's cloudy cope,
And breathe in clear futurity.
There, pure from grief, and sin, and toil,
That shade the sky of passing time,
Lies a new world—an untrod soil—
A shadowy Eden, still in prime.
That shade the sky of passing time,
Lies a new world—an untrod soil—
A shadowy Eden, still in prime.
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There, all we honour'd, all we lov'd,
More fair, more glorious still appears;
And hopes are crown'd, and faith approv'd,
And peace smiles calm on moonlight years.
More fair, more glorious still appears;
And hopes are crown'd, and faith approv'd,
And peace smiles calm on moonlight years.
And if, 'mid that delicious trance,
We waste one thought on present sorrow,
Its memory serves but to enhance
The blissful vision of to-morrow.
We waste one thought on present sorrow,
Its memory serves but to enhance
The blissful vision of to-morrow.
As when the shadowy Good repose,
Lapt on the green Elysian plain,
And dream awhile of earthly woes,
To wake in Heaven more blest again!
Lapt on the green Elysian plain,
And dream awhile of earthly woes,
To wake in Heaven more blest again!
| The poetical remains of William Sidney Walker | |