 | A New Year's Eve, and Other Poems |  |
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RECOLLECTIONS
OF MARTIN'S PRINT OF THE DELUGE.
The awful vision haunts me still!
In thoughts by day, in dreams by night;
So well had art's creative skill
There shown its fearless might.
In thoughts by day, in dreams by night;
So well had art's creative skill
There shown its fearless might.
The flood-gates of the foaming deep,
By power supreme asunder riven;
Heaven's opened windows,—and the sweep
Of clouds by tempests driven;—
By power supreme asunder riven;
Heaven's opened windows,—and the sweep
Of clouds by tempests driven;—
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The beetling crags which, on the right,
Menace swift ruin in their fall;
Yet rise on Memory's wistful sight,
And Memory's dreams appal.
Menace swift ruin in their fall;
Yet rise on Memory's wistful sight,
And Memory's dreams appal.
The rocky foreground—where await
Man, beast, and bird, their fearful doom,
Wonder and awe, and love, and hate,
Mute grief, despair, and gloom,—
Man, beast, and bird, their fearful doom,
Wonder and awe, and love, and hate,
Mute grief, despair, and gloom,—
All passions of the human heart,
In moods the darkest, fiercest known,
Here, by the mastery of art,
In energy are shown.
In moods the darkest, fiercest known,
Here, by the mastery of art,
In energy are shown.
All wildest fancy can pourtray
Of that tremendous scene and hour,
Exerts its own resistless sway,
And triumphs in its power.
Of that tremendous scene and hour,
Exerts its own resistless sway,
And triumphs in its power.
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It is no momentary spell,
Unfelt, when we behold it not;
Its woes on after hours must dwell,
Its fears be unforgot.
Unfelt, when we behold it not;
Its woes on after hours must dwell,
Its fears be unforgot.
Yet not of woe or fear alone
It tells a sad and solemn story;
One object in the wreck is shown,
Of love, and grace, and glory.
It tells a sad and solemn story;
One object in the wreck is shown,
Of love, and grace, and glory.
One gleam, where all beside is dark,
From stern and hopeless horror saves,
Shows where the heaven-protected ark
The world of waters braves.
From stern and hopeless horror saves,
Shows where the heaven-protected ark
The world of waters braves.
To that, amid Creation's doom,
Meek Faith and holy Hope may cling;
And in destruction's darkest gloom,
Of Mercy's triumph sing.
Meek Faith and holy Hope may cling;
And in destruction's darkest gloom,
Of Mercy's triumph sing.
| A New Year's Eve, and Other Poems | |