"Such are mine; and such shall be "Thine, to-morrow, when with me: "Ere the coming day is done, "Such shalt thou be, such thy son. "Fare thee well, but for a day; "Then we mix our mouldering clay. "Thou, thy race, lie pale and low, "Pierced by shafts of many a bow; "And the falchion by thy side "To thy heart, thy hand shall guide: "Grownless, breathless, headless fall, "Son and sire, the house of Saul!" "ALL IS VANITY, SAITH THE PREACHER." I. FAME, wisdom, love, and power were mine, My goblets blushed from every vine, I sunned my heart in beauty's eyes, II. I strife to number o'er what days Remembrance can discover, There roses no day, there rolled no hour Of pleasure unembittered; And not a trapping decked my power That galled not while it glittered, III. The serpent of the field, by art It will not list to wisdom's lore, WHEN COLDNESS WRAPS THIS SUFFER ING CLAY. I. WHEN COLDNESS WRAPS. THIS SUFFERING CLAY, Ah, whither strays the immortal mind? It cannot die, it cannot stay, But leaves its darkened dust behind. By steps each planet's heavenly way? II. Eternal, boundless, undecayed, A thought unseen, but seeing all, In one broad glance the soul beholds, VOL. IV. 1 III. Before Creation peopled earth, Its eye shall roll through chaos back; The spirit trace its rising track. While sun is quenched or system breaks, IV. Above or Love, Hope, Hate, or Fear, O'er all, through all, its thought shal! fly: A nameless and eternal thing, Forgetting what it was to die. |