True American. [volume] (Steubenville [Ohio]) 1855-1861, 1855-07-18
WHEN / AM DEAD.

unfolds itself at their utterance. -Four
simple monosylables, how much of gloom
ye convey How ye speak in funeral tones
of tie extinguishment of earthly hopes
of the spirit that has struggled in vain,
and is painfully quiet now
when | am dead p is uttered calmly,
but what calm such as tornado leaves
when silence broods over desolation The
voice pronouuciug that despairing phrase,
has not at all its Mournfulness from itself.
The listening car hears something more
for from those words the groan of high as
pcrations qucnchcd, and hopes pale and
bleeding upon the sharp rocks OF adversi-
ty, come up phantom like, aud the ghast-
ly scenes OF the buried past.
sWhen | am dead' We have heard it
often like the pealing bell that tolls the
body of the departed to its final rest. The
last word dead, fingers strangely, and
echoes sadly i'll the car, and through the
portals Of the sympathizing soul. Dead
dead-and the world grows gray and the
heart stills, and eye moistens, to that mys-
terious sound.
The spirit trcmLles before the rushing
flood Of conflicting emotions which follow
the dark echo, and essay to glance through
its import. But the echo fades amid en-
circliug mist, and the spirit turns back
confused with blindness.
Even the echo of death cannot be pen
etratcd. The few feet Of mould that CON-
poses the grave; are wider than the globe,
and higher than the stars. Not the minds
eye nor the anxious soul can glance thro'
the barrier-the boundary between Time
ard Eternity. 4
when am dead More or less sig.
nifes resignation, Or dependent woo, a full
fllment Of nature, or perverslon Of its
end, may these words express, though sad
they are at last. ...
When the aged man, whose steps grown
feeble in the walks of goodness, and whose
hands trembled with the fruit of his of
given charity, utter these words, they fal
from the lips as prayer to Heaven. Ii
them his will harmonizes with his destiny
and a tear that starts for superior sou
about to leave its clay, glistens in the ligh
Of happiness that CLEANS out Of the heart
at the prospective reward of the future.
The lips, too, that never pressed tn
rim Of the front Of Natures Poesy, ma,
murmur-'When | am dead = but dealt
to such one, is better, perhaps, than life
His heart holds no music Ginning in ca
dences to veal and woe; his inward exis
tencc is void, and the rough surface 0
his being checkered, though not brighten
ed by the half stay thought, darkcns bu
little with the panopoly of the tomb.
How different, when youth, CLOWN
with beauty of sUul and heart, rich wit
the treasures Of mind, and warm with syn
pathy for all with loveliness, sighs like til
south wind, when | am deadp A spil
it it seems to wall its anthem, an eclips
Of the noontide soon to fall upon the pi
ture of high nature checked in its pu
poseLtufned from dulcet waves upon
coral reef, against the rocks Of destru
tive shore. & I......... .
When am dead ! 1t is as mournf
, as the plant of ghost Oh the tempe
and midnight wind, But VIC must Say
some time: for the grave lies at hal
yawning through bed Of thons or gleal
/, ing like a white avenue Of hope loanil
= against the stars. 1000.
) ~ hen | am dead Strange and fe'
! ful import hath it toythe ytterer, but it
l. "a weak phrase oply to others, the wor]
j. Who speaks it? many think the single G
J. ing forth Of . soul will move nome
: will be as before. sai ,ss7g5- a] 20
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