Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1858-01-12
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RME CLOSING REAR .
pY GEo. D. rEEsrIos.

- = III
tTis mianight's. holy hour-and silence now
Ts broodine like d gentle spi 1T, Ger
TJesstiiI aud pnlseiess world. Hark on the winds
The beli,s deep tones are swelling; the knel
'0fthe departed year: No Inneraa ram .na o5
rs sweeping past; yet, ON the stream ana WOOD,
with melancholy light, the moonoeams rest,
like a pale, spotless shroud the air IS stirrd,
AS by a mourners sigh and on yonder cloud,
JThatfoats SO still and placidly through heaven,
.T'he spirits of the seasons seems to stand,
Young Spring bright Summer, Autumn's solemn
form,
And Winter with lis aged locks, and breathe
In uouurnfut cadeuces, tbat'come abroad
like the far wind-harp's wild and touching wall,
melancholy difge DER the dead year,
Clone from the earth forever. TITS time
For memory and for tears. Within the deep,
Sill chambers of the heart, spectre dim,s
Whose tones arelike the wizard voice ofTime,
Heard from the tomb of ages points its cold
And solemn fitger to the beautiful
And holy visions that have passd away,
And left no shadow of their lovliness
On the dead waste oflife. That spectre lifts
The coffin+ld of hope, and JOY, and love,
And, bending ::mournfully ,iabove the pals
Sweet forms that slumber there, scatters dead fow
ers
Der what has pass'd to nothingness. Tho year
Has gone, and, with il, many glorious throng
Ofhappy dreams. Its mark-iB on each brow
Its shadow in each heart. Units swift course,
1t waved its sceptre DER the beautiful,
And they are not. 1t laid its pallid hand
Upon the strong man, and the naughty form
Is fallen, and the flashing eye is dim.
It trod the hall of revelry where, throngd
The bright aud joyous, and the fearful wall
OF stricken ones is heard, where erst the song
And reckless shout resounded. 1t pass'd DER
The battle-plain where sword and spear and shield
Flash'd in the light of midday-and the strength
OF serried hosts is shiver'd, and the grass,
Green from the soil OF carnage waves above
Tho crnshd and mouldering skeleton. 1t came
And faded like wreath of mist at eVei
Yet, ere it melted in the Viewless air,
II heralded its millions to their home
In the dim land of dreams. Remorseless Time
Fierce spirit of the glass and scythe-what power
Can stay him in his silent course or melt
His iron heart 70 pity On still on
He presses, and forever. The proud bird,
The condor of the Andes that soar
Through heavens untathonable depths, or brave
The fury ofthe northern hurricane,
And battle his plumage in the thunders home,
Furls his broad wings at nightfnll, and sinks down
To rest npon his mountain-crag,-but Time
Knows not the weight of sleep WEAKNESS,
Aud nights deep darkness has no chain 10 bind
His rushing pinion. Revolutions sweep
Ger earth, like troubled visions Ger the breast
Ofdreaming sorrow cities Use and sink,
Like bubbles on the wafer; fiery isles
Spring blazing, from the &C IAN, and go back
To their mysterious caverns; mountains rear
To hea ven their bald and blackend cliffs, and bow
Their tall heads to the Plaini new empires rise,
Gathering the strength of hoary centuries,i
And rush down like the Alpine avalanche,
Startling the nations; and the very stars:
Yon bright aud burning blazonry of God,
Glitter awhile in their eternal depths.
And, like the Pleiad loveliest of their train,
Shoot from their glorious spheres, and pass away
To darkIe in the trackless void yet Time
Time the tomb builder, holds his fierce career,
Dark, stern, AL pitile1s and pauses..not
Amid the mighty wrecks that strew his path,
To sit and muse like other conquerors =
Upon the fearful ruin he has wrought.