The Port Gibson herald, and correspondent., 1851-02-21
From the Louisville Journal /
The Lyre Of Time.


MIDNIGHT, FIRST JANUARY, 1851.
God has crushed
Another chord from out the mighty harp
OF sounding ages-and its diving vail
Is stealing on the midnight, fainter far
Than Eeho's self, The shadow of sound.
The birth of Time was music when the stars
Gods high orchestra, pealed the overture
To young Creations drama-and the hour
When "Time shall 5e no more, "Ewil die away
Mid trumpet-thunders marshaling in hosts
From every realm, the armies of the Lord!
The silver chord is loosed. The parting year
With all its wild and fitful melody.
Its mingled harmony of joy and woe
And constant chorus of continual change
Is hushed forever; while the Lyre of Time,
Now strung anew by the Omnipotent.
Awaits his breath to swell the symphony
High flaming DER the Futures folded page.
Old shattered harp string! crushed to silence now
Thy many-braided music cold and still
Thine ever-pealing anthem! Rapture swelled
Awhile thy rich bird-carol-sorrow sighed
Hate, hoarsely bowling, blended with the lutte
Of Loves low murmur, as it wept from thee
Like dew on lily leaflets Here the gush
Of festal freedom mingled in the strain
OF holy alteration, and the wall
Of dying dirges crept along the chime
Of choral bridal bells; a boding tone
Met painting passions rolling rhapsody
Andhlrrowing voices from the shriekng shades
Smote sharply on the pealing paan proud
OF naughty victory. Mid them all arose
The frantic yell of Dissolution dire
And Freedom trembled in her mountain hold
Her banner waVered on its craggy height:
Her eagle faltered en- his pinion bold, might
And screamed with terror thro' the rushing
Until the fearful chant swept wildly on,
And died above the grave of WASHINGTON!
God has made
A wilderness of worlds; His viii and strong
Creative Spirit shook ten thousand worlds,
Like golden dew-drops from His waving wing,
To roll in beauty thro' abysmal space,
And chant the chorus of his love divine,
He made the "Milky way' to span the sky,
A pearly bow of promise, every drop,
That sparkles there, singing shining world!
He woke the music Of the Northern Harp
The wild weird chin .ng of the Peiades-
And bade the arches of Southern sphere
Reverberate their hallelujahs high.
When proud Orion rears his crested brow
And bears his burning falchion thro' the night
Or red Arcturus with his foot of flame,
Gives chase eternal to the monsters grim
That circle round the Pole; there, like fierce
And maddeBed glory, streams the comet-star-
Alaureled victor, sweeping thro' the blue
Trinmphal arch of Heaven, with crimson flags
Of Borealis floating DER him. From
The swift-winged meteor on his barb of flame,
Careering down the cloudy paths of air,
To some faint fire mist, darkling on the verge
OF blank ininitude, the blended hymn
Is universal Love!
The mighty One,
Who sweeps the Tyre of Ages, and commands
The praises of ten thousand singing worlds,
Creates the stars of Union, and attunes
The lofty harp of Liberty. Shall we
Proud children of the storied brave-the free,
Behold our banner blazoned by the breath
Of glory, sullied by slave?-our stars
OF Union tossing wildly to an fro
Upon the wave of faction, as they were
But shining shadows, not eternal orbs
Forever circling thro' the boundless heaven
OF everlasting purpose? Or shall we
Hear SdiSSolution" sounded, and forbear
To brand the traitor-heart that dared forget
The bond for which our fathers foughtand bled?
Cursed be the traitor doubly, trebly doomed
The pit of Discord for her victim yawns,
Then, back recoiling, shudders to receive
His heart, fouler and fiercer hell
God save the Unionl give the dawning year
This proud baptismal anthem--let its last
sigh be-Union undissolved
New States, with starry emblems, one by one,
Come stealing thro the Futures twilight dim,
Like orbs of evening from its dusky sky,
TO take their place at last with those that tread
Their high unwearied and unvarying round
Before the golden gates and battlemenss
Of paradise. The harp of liberty
SballsouRd aman, till Death himself expire, |
Till God has made us free. Immortality
And Time indust upon his broken Tyre.
Thrice raptured moment if all blest like thee
Are heavens bright centuries, how brief will be
Its countless ages of eternity
~ AN ENLIGHTENED CANDIDATE
Feller Citizens, said candidate for Con-
rress, recently, somewhere out West, Eel |