Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1849-01-31

IN IMITATION OF HOOD.


An old man feeble and dying lay,
And the winters blast with dismal tone
Whistles around the attic's cone,
Making its timbers creak and groan,
Till they crack in every stay;
But he heeds the tempest not,
Nor the tolling midnight chime,
For his body struggles in mortal throes,
And his soul is leaving time.
He raises his hoary head; .s
And gazes in fear around, --e
And fings the rags from his pallet bed,
While he groans aloud with-inward dread,
And pierces the deep profound.
His face is wrinkled and wan,
Cadaverous, yellow, and thin,
And his fingers and hands with, blotches Thrown,
Are nothing but bone and skin.
A rushlight dying only makes ...
Z he darkness darker still,
And while his body with palsey quakes,
And his quivering frame like anaspen shakes
His tremulous voice is shrill.
t'I have heaps of shining gold,
hane treasures of wealth untold
Filched from the young and wrung from the old,
Snatched from the timid, & craved from the bold
From the chest of brother miser 'doled,
From the Golfers of royal plenty rolled,
From the willy pawnbroker, heartless and cold,
From the goods of the friendless widow sold,
From the secret mine in the robbers hold,
And from the hunter of fortune cajoled- -.
hare gold, gold, shining gold,
But alas, am only of mortal mould!
81 have diamonds from the orient sands,
And rubies from Indian streams
Z BrigKt fear Ceyion's glittering strands,
And flashing gems from Southern lands;
But all will glisten in other hands,
And this the end ofmy cherished plans
My treasures and my dreams.
But bark! hear a sound
Who comes to my attic throne?
Oh, near it approaches, and thunders around,
Yet sure / am here all alone!
'Tis the wall of the widow in tears,
Who turned from her home to the street
'Tis the sebof the timid and tender in years,
How we'll I.remember their hopes and their fears,
When they stood in the night wind that rang in
their ears,
All exposed to the rain and the s1eet.
And by the side of the widow pale,
There rises another with fearful walk =
His awful voice makes my vitals quail
For clutched his all when he pined in Jail,
Innocent, innocent-yet how long
He languished, before his body strong
Fell in ruins before the mighty breath
OF the grim destroyer-Death!
They circle my couch around,
And cluster with noiseless tread,
Nearer, nearer-but not sound
Of sob, or sigh, or wall can hear.
They are silent and grim, and shrek with fear
At the awful and solemn stiffness here
Oh! cuKsEs would be relief to my ear
From this army of the dead
Avaunt! and come not near me now,
When the pallor ofdeath is my brow;
My eyes are sightless and yet see
Your CHASTITY faces grinning at me;
But cannot die till my fingers hold
Safe, safe from your clutches my darling gold,
And though you have might of the Genii old,
! defy yeu to snatch it from my fold.
Yes-here is bag by my pallets side
Though my eyes are dark hear it clink,
: Its glitter SEE through the network chink,
!. Oh fain would Fswallow the shining ore,
And enter with wealth the eharnel doern
The discord and tone of his voice was still,
And the sound of the metal fell heavy and chill,
For he sank on his face, and with lips applied
To tbs idol Of Mammon-the miser died.
DE CASTRL