University of Virginia Library

With what a calm and hopeful grace come forth
The starry emblems of supernal love
Into the dusky sky! So have our years
Been shorn of darkness by the light divine
From Time's dim firmament benignly shed
By the same hand that led us forth at first
To tread Life's solemn shore; upon that strand
Surges of grief, with melancholy roar,
Will sometimes beat; but only to subside
Into a pensive murmur, soothing oft
Our troubled breasts with dreams of holier spheres,
Where, like a peaceful lake, whose crystal depths
E'er image lovely things, the heart expands,
Tranquil and bright beneath the smile of God.
Now that the last breeze of another year
Thus sighs itself away, awake my soul!
And garner up the pleasant memories
That smile upon thee from departed days;
Ere these redeemers of the Past grow dim,
Throw on its tomb a wreath: Remember now
How oft night's beauteous queen has solaced thee,
When, on the ocean waste, her beams have spread
A silver pathway for the barque of Hope
To float serenely into coming time!
How did thy baser passions melt away
In those soft, tranquil nights! What calm divine
Through all thy powers in subtle beauty spread,
What solemn raptures stirred thy silent depths,
What visions of the beautiful arose!
What passionate resolves to follow truth,
Obey the inward law; with boundless love,
Firm trust, and conscious joy, to take thy way
Through the mysterious destinies of earth,
Free and untroubled as a happy child!

Recall the ravishments of music born,
Warm with emotions tender and profound,
When on a sea of melody thou lay,
Swept with a thrilling freedom, or upborne,
Oblivious of time, as some high strain
Imparadised thee with its melting spell,
And rendered consciousness intense and sweet.
Conjure from by-gone hours the sacred thoughts
That came to thee at twilight, as the west
Mantled the aged hills with pearly light,
And sent bright scintillations up the sky,
Like paths of amber, amethystine waves,
Or roseate streams through azure meadows rolled,
Emblazoned with a solar heraldry,—
Commingling all within the purple mists,
Which, like the floating robes of seraphs, play
Round the departing sun!

Renew once more
The charm that lured thee, as thou loitered far
Into the mazes of that verdant lore,
That, like a primal forest of the east,
Spreads its o'erladen branches many a league,
While flowers of every hue beneath are strewn,
Sending forever through the solemn air
Incense the breath of ages cannot waste!
What though the world is cold, so thou canst steal
From its stern throng, and in the orange-groves
Of fair Verona, in the moonlight, hear
Juliet's deep vows, fresh from her virgin soul,
Stir the awed night-breeze, like the mystic tones
Of spheral music from some new-born star?
Or stand beside the musing Dane, to note
His thoughtful soul's deep strivings with itself?
Think of the noble women thou hast known,
Upon whose lovely brows high grace reposed,
Within whose eyes the dew of tenderness
From love's unfathomable deep welled up—
Confirming faith in heaven; whose tones of truth
All affluent in hope, melodious breathed
More eloquent responses to the plea
For an immortal fate, than all the force
Proud reason ever marshalled to adorn
Doubt's desert plain with frigid argument.
Recall those moments whose concentrate span
Outvalues common years, when thou didst break
From thy poor thrall of dust, as if thou felt
The scope of an immortal flight were thine,
And rose through Love's celestial atmosphere,
Buoyant with gladness, to the gate of heaven!
Amid those blissful dreams, how paled afar
The star of glory, like an earthly lamp
At the first outbreak of the god of day!
Ah! then thou didst forswear most earnestly
Ambition's weary race; the thirst for gold
Died with disdain, as manhood's mind contemns
The toys of infancy; each selfish aim,
The sophistry of rank, pleasure's gay badge,
And all the means and purposes of life,
Dwindled to mocking trifles, as the waves
Of a new-born affection proudly swelled,
With a deep music and far-spreading sweep,
Before which all the sounds of earth grew faint,
And former prospects sunk to littleness.

Such are the mysteries that circle life!
To think—yet with unsatisfied desire,
Sit in the temple-porch of Knowledge still,
Forbidden by our clay habiliments
From rushing to the open arms of Truth,
To lay our aching brows upon her breast;
To love—yet at affection's banquet glean
Mere crumbs of nourishment, while our strong hearts
Are shaping ever an ideal love,
And thirsting for a sympathy of soul
Which angels only know.

Yet thank the Giver of each perfect gift,
For the perception and the pledge divine;
Treasure the better moments thou hast known,
When, with volcanic force, the light of thought
Shed a celestial splendor o'er the world;
Or love, forgetful of its earthly fate,
Seemed momently to know the deathless joy
Awaiting it above; a grateful hope
Shall thus the elements of time subdue,
And harmonize the soul with filial trust.