Page images
PDF
EPUB

THE LAST MAN.

What though beneath thee man put forth His pomp, his pride, and skill;

And arts that made fire, flood, and earth,
The vassals of his will?—

Yet mourn I not thy parted sway,
Thou dim discrowned king of day:
For all those trophied arts

And triumphs that beneath thee sprang,
Heal'd not a passion or a pang

Entail'd on human hearts.

Go, let oblivion's curtain fall
Upon the stage of men,

Nor with thy rising beams recall
Life's tragedy again:

Its piteous pageants bring not back,
Nor waken flesh, upon the rack
Of pain anew to writhe.

Stretch'd in disease's shapes abhorr'd,
Or mown in battle by the sword,
Like grass beneath the scythe.

E'en I am weary in yon skies
To watch thy fading fire:
Test of all sumless agonies,

Behold not me expire.

My lips that speak thy dirge of death-Their rounded gasp and gurgling breath To see thou shalt not boast;

The eclipse of Nature spreads my pall,The majesty of Darkness shall

Receive my parting ghost!

This spirit shall return to Him

Who gave its heavenly spark;

Yet think not, Sun, it shall be dim

When thou thyself art dark!

THE LAST MAN.

No! it shall live again, and shine
In bliss unknown to beams of thine;
By Him recall'd to breath,
Who captive led captivity,

Who robb'd the grave of Victory,—
And took the sting from Death!

Go, Sun, while Mercy holds me up
On Nature's awful waste,
To drink this last and bitter cup

Of grief that man shall taste—
Go, tell the night that hides thy face,
Thou saw'st the last of Adam's race,

On Earth's sepulchral clod,

The darkening universe defy
To quench his Immortality,

Or shake his trust in God!

Campbell.

ETERNAL Hope! when yonder spheres sublime Peal'd their first notes to sound the march of Time, Thy joyous youth began-but not to fade

When all the sister planets have decay'd;

When wrapt in fire the realms of ether glow,

And Heaven's last thunder shakes the world below;
Thou, undismay'd, shalt o'er the ruins smile,
And light thy torch at Nature's funeral pile.

Same.

[graphic][merged small]

THE Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;

THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB.

And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea, When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen :
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay wither'd and strown!

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he pass'd;
And the eyes of the sleepers wax'd deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!

And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,

But through it there roll'd not the breath of his pride; And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf, And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And there lay the rider distorted and pale,

With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail;
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.

And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

Lord Byron.

ST. STEPHEN'S DAY.

THE Son of God goes forth to war,
A kingly crown to gain:
His blood-red banner streams afar!
Who follows in His train?

Who best can drink His cup of woe,
Triumphant over pain,

Who patient bears His Cross below,
He follows in His train !

The martyr first, whose eagle eye
Could pierce beyond the grave;
Who saw his Master in the sky,
And call'd on Him to save.

Like Him, with pardon on his tongue

In midst of mortal pain,

He pray'd for them that did the wrong

Who follows in his train?

A glorious band, the chosen few

On whom the Spirit came;

Twelve valiant saints, their hope they knew, And mock'd the cross and flame.

They met the tyrant's brandish'd steel,

The lion's gory mane;

They bow'd their necks the death to feel!

Who follows in their train?

« PreviousContinue »