For my heart was hot and restless,
And my life was full of care, And the burden laid upon me
Seemed greater than I could bear.
But now it has fallen from me,
It is buried in the sea;
And only the sorrow of others
Throws its shadow over me.
Yet whenever I cross the river,
On its bridge with wooden piers, Like the odour of brine from the ocean,
Comes the thought of other years.
And I think how many thousands
Of care-encumbered men,
Each bearing his burden of sorrow,
Have crossed the bridge since then.
I see the long procession
Still passing to and fro;
The young heart hot and restless,
And the old subdued and slow!
And for ever and for ever,
As long as the river flows,
As long as the heart has passions,
As long as life has woes;
The moon and its broken reflection,
And its shadows shall appear,
As the symbol of love in heaven,
And its wavering image here.
Longfellow.
THE OLD CLOCK ON THE STAIRS.
Somewhat back froin the village street
Stands the old-fashioned country seat.
Across its antique portico
Tall poplar-trees their shadows throw;
And from its station in the hall
An ancient time-piece says to all-
“For ever-never !
Never, for ever!"
By day its voice is low and light;
But in the silent dead of night,
Distinct as a passing footstep's fall,
It echoes along the vacant hall,
Along the ceiling, along the floor,
And seems to say, at each chamber door--
“For ever-never !
Never-for ever!”
Through days of sorrow and of mirth,
Through days of death and days of birth,
Through every swift vicissitude
Of changeful time, unchanged it has stood,
And as if, like God, it all things saw,
It calmly repeats those words of awe-
“For ever-never !
Never-for ever!”
In that mansion used to be
Free-hearted Hospitality;
His great fires up the chimney roared ;
The stranger feasted at his board ;
But, like the skeletons at the feast,
That warning time-piece never ceased-
“For ever-never!
Never—for ever!”
There groups of merry children played,
There youths and maidens dreaming strayed ;
Oh precious hours! Oh golden prime,
And affluence of love and time !
Even as a miser counts his gold,
Those hours the ancient time-piece told-
“For ever-never !
Never-for ever!”.
From that chamber, clothed in white,
The bride came forth on her wedding night;
There, in that silent room below,
The dead lay in his shroud of snow;
And in the hush that followed the prayer,
Was heard the old clock on the stair-
“For ever-never !
Never-for ever!”.
All are scattered now and fled,
Some are married, some are dead ;
And when I ask, with throbs of pain,
“Ah ! when shall they all meet again!”
As in the days long since gone by,
The ancient time-piece makes reply-
“For ever--never !
Never-for ever!”
Never here—for ever there,
Where all parting, pain, and care,
And death, and time shall disappear,
For ever there, but never here !
The horologe of Eternity
Sayeth this incessantly— .
“For ever-never !
Never--for ever!”
Long fellow.
There is no flock, however watched and tended,
But one dead lamb is there !
There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended,
But has one vacant chair !
The air is full of farewells to the dying,
And mournings for the dead; The heart of Rachel, for her children crying,
Will not be comforted !
Let us be patient! These severe afflictions
Not from the ground arise,
But oftentimes celestial benedictions
Assume this dark disguise.
We see but dimly through the mists and vapours
Amid these earthly damps;
What seem to us but sad, funereal tapers,
May be heaven's distant lamps.
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