The Reliquary By Bernard and Lucy Barton. With A Prefatory Appeal for Poetry and Poets |
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SEA-SIDE MUSINGS. |
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| II. |
 | The Reliquary |  |
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SEA-SIDE MUSINGS.
We look for changeful chance on earth,
Even in time's brief day;
Its towers and temples have their birth,
Their glory, their decay:
Its cities once in pomp array'd,
Who shall their site recall?
Its forests with their branching shade;
These have their rise and fall:
But thou, majestic, mighty main!
Appear'st from change so free,
That bards have styled thee, in their strain,
The everlasting sea!
Even in time's brief day;
Its towers and temples have their birth,
Their glory, their decay:
Its cities once in pomp array'd,
Who shall their site recall?
Its forests with their branching shade;
These have their rise and fall:
But thou, majestic, mighty main!
Appear'st from change so free,
That bards have styled thee, in their strain,
The everlasting sea!
Most glorious of a truth, thou art;—
And yet if rightly view'd
Much is there in thee to impart
Thoughts of vicissitude!
Thy tides, that daily ebb and flow,
Clouds, sunshine, calm, and storm—
Their varying spells around thee throw,
To change thy face and form.
And prophecy a change more dread
Portends concerning thee:
Its mystic oracles have said
There shall be no more sea!
And yet if rightly view'd
Much is there in thee to impart
Thoughts of vicissitude!
Thy tides, that daily ebb and flow,
Clouds, sunshine, calm, and storm—
Their varying spells around thee throw,
To change thy face and form.
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Portends concerning thee:
Its mystic oracles have said
There shall be no more sea!
New heavens, new earth, when these are o'er,
To man have been foretold;
But thee, thy date fulfill'd, no more
Shall vision e'er behold:
Nor mortal nor immortal gaze
In thee shall more rejoice,
Thy billowy anthems pealing praise,
Shall cease their solemn voice:
Leviathan, thy giant king,
Shall then no longer be,
Nor ships their shadows o'er thee fling;—
There shall be no more sea!
To man have been foretold;
But thee, thy date fulfill'd, no more
Shall vision e'er behold:
Nor mortal nor immortal gaze
In thee shall more rejoice,
Thy billowy anthems pealing praise,
Shall cease their solemn voice:
Leviathan, thy giant king,
Shall then no longer be,
Nor ships their shadows o'er thee fling;—
There shall be no more sea!
What marvel that it should be so!
In heaven's eternal peace,
Whose inmates chance nor change can know,
'Tis meet their types should cease:
When hope no longer can delude,
And fear no more dismay,
Nor grief's nor passion's storms intrude,
To make of man their prey:
When earth has given up all her dead,
And thine restored shall be,
Wisely the Word of God hath said,
There shall be no more sea!
In heaven's eternal peace,
Whose inmates chance nor change can know,
'Tis meet their types should cease:
When hope no longer can delude,
And fear no more dismay,
Nor grief's nor passion's storms intrude,
To make of man their prey:
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And thine restored shall be,
Wisely the Word of God hath said,
There shall be no more sea!
And none shall need thee. In that day
Nor sun nor moon shall shine;
With their proud glories passed away
Should be an end of thine:
God and The Lamb shall be our light,
And from the eternal throne
The stream of life, like crystal bright,
Shall evermore flow on.
Far from its holy healing waters
Shall pain and sickness flee,
Nor one of Zion's sons or daughters
Mourn there is no more sea!
Nor sun nor moon shall shine;
With their proud glories passed away
Should be an end of thine:
God and The Lamb shall be our light,
And from the eternal throne
The stream of life, like crystal bright,
Shall evermore flow on.
Far from its holy healing waters
Shall pain and sickness flee,
Nor one of Zion's sons or daughters
Mourn there is no more sea!
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