The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1852-11-13
from the Southern Ladies' Boo; for November.l
THE DEATH OF THE YEAR.
BY GEO. d. PRENTICE.

THE DEATH OF L IL YEAR.
By GEO. d. PRENTICE.
List list! what fearful tone was that which rose
Upon the wind or midnight Nature sounds
No knell DER earth for the departed year,
Yet when its last breath passed into the void
OF the by-goue eternity, heard
Echoed within the chambers OF my soul
i sound, perchance the shadow of a SOUND.
Wild. strange and dismal, "a il were a wall,
4 low AID blended wall from al the graves
and sepulchres of ocean and oil edrth
Upon a e Silly AIR. Oh was II not
The solemn voice Of old ETERNITY
Uttering one cry .s,ne wild and deep lament,
For his dead child!
The year, alas! is gone
Forever from the world, he seemed too strong,
Too mighty e'er to die. He laid his hand
On breathing millioas, and they SANK beneath
The green grass of the grave; he blew aloud
The trumpet blast of batte. and dark hosts
Met in the mortal shock, and when the flame
And smoke Of conflict had gone by, they lay
Like autuIln's red leaves on the plain ne passed
O'er .arth. and, at each wave OF has broad WINGS.
Volcano, earthquake. whirlwind, storm. and Hood
Spraug up beneath the silent spell aud wrought
The fearful errands Of their destiny
Yet now, his own great mission done, ne iies
On scorched aud broken pinions with the dead,
There, there 10 sleep.
What is Timcl
4 giant power stern, vast. and bodiless.
That We may feel, bat never see. We gaze
With aching eyes into the past, and there
Floating like atoms ia the pallid beams
OF mourniul memOr but the perlshei year
Is all unseen. From thence We sadly turn,
And, gazing on the future. We behold
Dim countless phautOms trocping from lis dark
Uniathomed ocean TO the lonely shore
or earthly being, but the coming years
Are all invisible. And then We l;luse
And gaze above around. beneath. and iol
Our eyes are startled by the mighty deeds
OF ihe passing time, the iron weight
OF his stern presence rests upon our souls;
Va feel Tie. al touch
With his cold deaihke finger; and We hear
The deep and mingled roar that Uses up
From all his mighty dOings of our earth,
And yet he BIAS 10 form to cast lis glcam
Or shadow ON our sight.
The parted year
Called forth from earth blooming Paradise
OF sweet spring howers-he waved his autumn wand
Aud they were not. lie woke in human souls
Ayriads of hopes and joys and burning lows,
That seemed IKE things OF immortality
iie touched them anu they died. Another year,
The sift 0f Goa, is cast beneath the skies,
And hat is ,,arkiy hidden ia the still
And silent ltlis Of its mysterious months,
Ne may not kLOw-thank God, We may not know.
We only know that with each passing month
And day and hour, the low. deep wall of grief,
The maddened cry OF agony, the shout
Oh fierce ambition, the loud thumder-shock
or bloody conflict and the knel of death
Win ecAo. each, its on. brief moment DER
The sea Of tune. and tacu be swallowed up
And iusi forever ia lie onward sweep
OF lis Implying waves.
The midnight skies
Are weeping silent tears rs II they greiycd
For the old year, and The pale stars look sad
And .Temble Is if living soTrOwing hearts
We're tIr10b.ng in the'! breasts Ia vain, in vain!
The faded year is nothing now. The flowers,
Ihc birds the waves, the tho sand melodies
OF vernsl life ami nature Wil come back,
But he returns no more. The winds may search
For him ia their far journey ngs; the grand
Old ocean with its thunder tones may call
Forever to him in its useless dash
Beneath the heavens the bright and burning stars
With LeiT high tones of Eden nnisirclsy
az speak his name in their eternal sweep
Alcrg .lieir Raining paths; the comets wild
May seek hin 10y The t;eful blaze they spread
Through realms OF ancient night; bat these
Shall never find him. for he liyeth hot
In all the universe of God. Years die,
And centuries die. and there will come "A day
When the dread angle of the Apocalypse,
Standing ON land aud sea, will lii his hand
And swear that time shall be no more.
Yet thou.
Oh man. wilt never die. The earth will pass
Like IA wild drtam away. the very heavens
BE rolled together a scroll. but He,
Beneath whose feet the sun and .tars dust,
Hath said that thou shalt never di'. Those great
And awful words of the Omnipotcnt
Are caught up aud re echoed 10 thy soul
by all the world Of nature. 4 deep voice,
That tells thee of thy immortality.
SpeUks ia Z he breeze and in the hurricanes:
| Blends with the gentle music OF The strraIn,
The load rush 81 the cataract, the peal
I From The dark bosom of the cloud. and all
| The Thousand mystic cs.dences OF night,
| Deep min ies with the everlasting roar
Or ocea Ia his Wild unrest AMI swells
Forever in the angel symphonies
Sung 10y the stars around the midnight throne.
| LOUISVILLE, hyI teJ2.