Of the wide world shall troop their risen souls,
From him whose bones are bleaching in the waste
Of polar solitudes, or him whose corpse,
Whelm'd in the loud Atlantic's vexèd tides,
Is washed on some Caribbean prominence,
To the lone tenant of some secret cell
In the Pacific's vast . . . . realm,
Where never plummet's sound was heard to part
The wilderness of water; they shall come
To greet the solemn advent of the Judge.
Thou first shalt summon the elected saints
To their apportion'd Heaven! and thy Son,
At thy right hand, shall smile with conscious joy
On all his past distresses, when for them
He bore humanity's severest pangs.
Then shalt thou seize the avenging scimitar,
And, with a roar as loud and horrible
As the stern earthquake's monitory voice,
The wicked shall be driven to their abode,
Down the immitigable gulf, to wail
And gnash their teeth in endless agony.
Rear thou aloft thy standard.. Spirit, rear
Thy flag on high!- invincible, and throned
In unparticipated might. Behold
Earth's proudest boasts, beneath thy silent sway,
Sweep headlong to destruction, thou the while,
Unmoved and heedless, thou dost hear the rush
Of mighty generations, as they pass
To the broad gulf of ruin, and dost stamp
Thy signet on them, and they rise no more.
Who shall contend with Time- unvanquished Time, The conqueror of conquerors, and lord
Of desolation? - Lo! the shadows fly,
The hours and days, and years and centuries;
They fly, they fly, and nations rise and fall,
The young are old, the old are in their graves.
Heard'st thou that shout? It rent the vaulted skies;
It was the voice of people, mighty crowds,
Again! 'tis hushed - Time speaks, and all is hushed; In the vast multitude now reigns alone
Unruffled solitude. They all are still;
yea, the whole - the incalculable mass, Still as the ground that clasps their cold remains.
Rear thou aloft thy standard. Spirit, rear
Thy flag on high, and glory in thy strength.
But do thou know the season yet shall come,
When from its base thine adamantine throne
Shall tumble; when thine arm shall cease to strike,
Thy voice forget its petrifying power;
When saints shall shout, and Time shall be no more.
Yea, he doth come - the mighty champion comes,
Whose potent spear shall give thee thy death wound
Shall crush the conqueror of conquerors,
And desolate stern Desolation's lord.
Lo! where he cometh! the Messiah comes!
The King! the Comforter! the Christ!-- He comes To burst the bonds of Death, and overturn
The power of Time. — Hark! the trumpet's blast Rings o'er the heavens! They rise, the myriads
Even from their graves they spring, and burst the chains
Of torpor,— He has ransom'd them,
Forgotten generations live again,
Assume the bodily shapes they owned of old,
Beyond the flood:- the righteous of their times
Embrace and weep, they weep the tears of joy.
The sainted mother wakes, and in her lap
Clasps her dear babe, the partner of her grave,
And heritor with her of Heaven,
a flower
Washed by the blood of Jesus from the stain
Of native guilt, even in its early bud.
And, hark! those strains, how solemnly serene
They fall, as from the skies at distance fall-
Again more loud - the halleluiahs swell;
The newly risen catch the joyful sound;
They glow, they burn; and now with one accord
Bursts forth sublime from every mouth the song
Of praise to God on high, and to the Lamb
Who bled for mortals.
Yet there is peace for man. - Yea, there is peace Even in this noisy, this unsettled scene;
When from the crowd, and from the city far,
Haply he may be set (in his late walk
O'ertaken with deep thought) beneath the boughs
Of honeysuckle, when the sun is gone,
And with fixed eye, and wistful, he surveys
The solemn shadows of the Heavens sail,
And thinks the season yet shall come, when Time Will waft him to repose, to deep repose,
Far from the unquietness of life from noise
And tumult far beyond the flying clouds,
Beyond the stars, and all this passing scene,
Where change shall cease, and Time shall be no more.
PICTURED in memory's mellowing glass, how sweet
Our infant days, our infant joys, to greet;
To roam in fancy in each cherished scene,
The village churchyard, and the village green,
The woodland walk remote, the greenwood glade,
The mossy seat beneath the hawthorn shade,
* This appears to be one of the Author's earliest productions: written when about the age of fourteen.
The whitewashed cottage, where the woodbine grew,
And all the favourite haunts our childhood knew!
How sweet, while all the evil shuns the gaze,
To view the unclouded skies of former days!
Beloved age of innocence and smiles,
When each wing'd hour some new delight beguiles.
When the gay heart, to life's sweet dayspring true,
Still finds some insect pleasure to pursue.
Bless'd Childhood, hail! Thee simply will I sing,
And from myself the artless picture bring;
These long-lost scenes to me the past restore,
Each humble friend, each pleasure now no more,
And every stump familiar to my sight
Recalls some fond idea of delight.
This shrubby knoll was once my favourite seat; Here did I love at evening to retreat,
And muse alone, till in the vault of night,
Hesper, aspiring, showed his golden light.
Here once again, remote from human noise,
I sit me down to think of former joys;
Pause on each scene, each treasured scene, once more,
And once again each infant walk explore,
While as each grove and lawn I recognize,
My melted soul suffuses in my eyes.
And oh! thou Power, whose myriad trains resort To distant scenes, and picture them to thought; Whose mirror, held unto the mourner's eye, Flings to his soul a borrowed gleam of joy ; Bless'd Memory, guide, with finger nicely true, Back to my youth my retrospective view;
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