Bellevue gazette. [volume] (Bellevue City, N.T. [i.e. Neb.]) 1856-1858, 1857-01-08
POETRY.
(WRITTEN ron THE BELLEVUE GAZETTE.
NeVy-Year Thoughts.
JANUARY I, 1857

! Now dies upon the ear A moment since
Twas present, with its joys, its smiles, It's
tears,
Its days Of busy strife-of deeds Of fame,
OF mercy, love-of sin too, and of crime;
It's scenes of suf'rng, and of solemn death.
These all have passed away. Now | look
back
And feel the consciousness OF one more year
Added to those long numbered with the dead.
Not all the pride nor avarice Of man
Can wake II into being, nor recall
One heeting moment OF the slumbcFing year;
Nor deeds OF folly, nor of sin undo.
| It sleeps the sleep of death, the silence of
/ The quiet grave-thc grave where wearied
ones
Find rest from trouble-from corroding care.
Not the repose that DREAMING atheists think,
But that which Christians fnd whose bodies
lie
Well cared for, tho within their narrow cell,
But whose pure spirits, PURE, because
| redeemed,
And in atoneing blood, washed and made
clean,
Accepted, stand before the throne Of God,
And drink their happiness from heavenly
streams.
We cannot now recall the year just gone,
But may recall to mind what scenes have
passed
or good or evil-what improvement made
OF blessings sent, or chastisements endured
Blessings so frequent, that we heed them not /;
Yet when at times withheld, or sparsely
given,
Rebellion rises in ungrateful hearts.
What rich harvest has the year bestowed,
Rich in provisions, both for man and beast,
And so abundant that the newborn year
Need take no thought for many days to come.
Truly our land is blessed above all lands,
AMI we of all the nations of the earth
Should be most grateful.
| But not here alone
Is cause of gratitude the growing strife
That nation against nation sets at war,
Has died away, or heard but dimly now,
And God, in mercy, may restrain the wrath
OF tyrant man. Alas what blood was split,
What angry words were uttered; how the
wrath
OF man waxed hot against his fellow man;
What elimination, discord, envy, strife,
What pride, what arrogance, and what ILL
will
We're harbored in the hearts where love should
reign,
Love reign, because one family we dwell;
Though many sovereigns, still they call US
| one,
One people, and one nation, and one head,
Or servant, for the head the servant is;
One constitution, name, and Union one.
One sky doth cover us the same earth yields
Our food the same deep river waters all,
E'en from the Rocky Mountains snow-clad
top
Far down TO where the briny gulf doth lave
The soiled and weared feet OF "Sunny South u
Much Of this strife has passed away, and now
We seem to feel the common throes Of life,
And Peace again lifts up her dropping head
Domestic peace, without which all were lost
Nor was that dark and threat'ning cloud
that rose
Beyond Atlantic's waves, THAT SOUND OF
| WAR,
Suffered the whole horizon to o'erspread,
And thus in savage darkness shroud again
This fairest heritage that earth ere saw
Since sin first blighted Eden. II has vanished
The genial rays of the bright sun of Peace
Hath scattered that dark cloud. The Bow O
Promise
, Expanding the broad sea In lofty arch,
Rests, one end on Brltanla's soa-girt shore,
The other on our own BELOVED land,
While towering high the olive branch appears
Emblem Of peace and unity Of heart.
Nor shall the year just entered into being
Depart, II Providence doth favor us,
Ere science shall discover meath the dark
And deep-blue sea a quiet way where thought
With lightning's speed, shall go and come a
!. will,
o Unmndful OF the storms and winds above;
;, And mother and daughter separated long,
And Jealous often of each others love,
y, Shall meet In fond embrace meath OCEAN,
= VEIL,
. And kiss, and smile, forgive, and e'en forget
n And thus IN HEART united, though apart,
Their course will onward be, and UPwAH
TOO,
Till the broad mantle that doth cover them
le Shall cover all the earth and all the earth
y keel joyful, governed by .lHI,K common lay
b And by them taught the truths 'tbeihsdiv
: have learned ..,t rrais h,rt-'.
From Gods own words, which make us wh
we are, it.j.!