Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1870-12-27
THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR.
BY GEORGE d. PRENTICE.

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BY GEORGE D. PRENTICE.
The following beautiful poem was published
originally as the Carriers Address to the patrons
of the Louisville Journal, on the commence
ment of the year 1882. On the Goth of January,
1886, it was reprinted on satin by subscription.
1t deserves to be printed in letters of gold; for
1t is the chef a. oeuvre of one whose poetry has
thrilled, electrified, and enchanted the nation.
Gonel gone forever Like rushing wave
Another year has burst upon the shore
OF earthly being-and its last low tones,
Wandering in broken accents on the air,
Are dying to an echo. q
-. = ll The gay Spring
With its young charms is gone-gone with its
Its atmosphere of roses-its white clouds =
Slumbering like seraphs on the air-its birds
Telling their loves in music-,and its streams,
Leaping and shouting from the up-pied rocks
To make earth echo with the joy of waves.
And Summer, with its dews and showers, has
Its rainbows glowing on the distant cloud =
Like spirits of the storm-its peaceful lakes
Smiling in their sweet sleep, as if their dreams
Were of the opening flowers and budding trees
And overhanging sky-and its bright mists
Resting upon the mountain-tops, as crowns
& Upon the heads of giants. Autumn, too.
Has gone with all its deeper glories-gone
With its rich green hills like affairs of the world,
Lifting their rich fruit offerings to their God.
It's cool winds straying mid the forest aisles
. TO wake their thousand wind-harps-its serene
And holy sunsets hanging Ger the West
Like banners from the battlements of heaven
And its still evenings, when the moonlight sea
Was ever throbbing, like the living heart
OF the great Universe Ay-these are now
But signs and visions of the past-ther deep,
Wild beauty has departed from the Earth,
And they are gathered to the embrace of Death,
Their solemn herald to Eternity. 81
Nor have they gone alone. High human hearts
hoxra roc6
dust = gss,3 a.'s 10 -
Is chill on many breast that burned erewhile
With fires that seemed immortal. joys, that
leaped arH ID se-sE 1ga6e8sf
Like angels from the heart. and wandered free
In life's young morning to look upon the flowers,
The poetry of Nature, and to list, ss9sa9
The woven sound of breeze and bird and stream,
Upon the night air, have been stricken down
In silence to the dust. Exultant Hope, &,
That moved forever on the bouyant winds -es
Like the bright. starry bird of Paradise,
And chanted to the ever-listening heart
In the wild music of thousand tongues, a.
Or scared into the open sky, until
Nights burning gems seemed jewelled on her
Has shut her dropping wing, and made her home
Within the yoiceless sepulchre. And Love,
That knelt at PASSIONS hottest shrine, and gazed
On his hearts idol as on some sweet star, =
And dreamed of ecstacies until his soul -
Seemed but a Tyre, that awakened in the glance
OF the beloved one-he who madly grasped
At Glory's fleeing phantom-he who sought
His fame on the battlefield, and longed -,
To make his throne pyramid of bones
Amid sea of bloedl He too, is gone!
His stormy voice is mute-his mighty arm
Is nerveless on its clod-his very name
Is but the meteor of a night of years -
Whose CLEANS flashed out a moment DER the
Earth s 49,
And faded into nothingness. The dream
Of high devotion beauty's bright array
And llfe's deep idol-memories-all have passed
Like the cloud-shadows on a starlight stream,
Or a soft strain of music when the winds ~
Are slumbering on the billow.
Yet, why muse
Upon the past with sorrow? Though the year
Has gone to blend with the mysterious tide
Of old Eternity, and, borne along sA1
Upon its heaving breast thousand wrecks
Of glory and of beauty-yet why mourn
That such is destiny? Another year
Succeedeth to the past-in their bright round
The seasons come and go-the same blue arch
That hath hung DER US will hang DER us yet
The same pure stars that we have loved to watch,
Will blossom still at twilights gentle hour,
Like lilies on the tomb of Day-and still
Man viii remain to dream, as he hath dreamed
And mark the Earth with Passion. Love will
- spring
From the lone tomb of old Affections-Hope
And Joy and great Ambition will rise up
As they have risen-and their deeds will be
Brighter than those engraven on the scroll
OF parted centuries. Even now the sea .a
Lifes great events are heaving into birth,
Is tossing to and fro as if the winds aaf
Of Heaven were prisoned in its soundless depths,
And struggling to be free.
Weep not, that Time
Is passing ont will ere long reveal
A brighter era to the nations. Harkl
Along the wales and mountains of the Earth
There is a deep, portentOus murnuring,5
Like the swift rush of subterranean sreams,
Or like the mingled sounds of earth and air
When the fierce tempest, with sonorous wing
Heaves his deep folds upon the rushing Winds
And hurries onward with the night of clouds
Against the eternal mountains. lis the voice
Of infant FREEDoM-and her stirring call
Is heard and answered in thousand tones
From every hilltop of Western home
And 10 1t breaks across old Oceans food
And 'FREEDoMi FREEDOM" is the answering
shout
OF nations starting from the spell of years
The day-springl See! It's Frightening in the
heavens
The watehmen Of the night have caught the
From tower to tower the signal fires fash free
And the deep watch-word, like the rush of seas
That herads the volcanoes bursting flame,
Is sounding o er the earth. Bright years of Hope
And life are on the wing Yon glorious bow
OF freedom, Bonded by the hand of God,
Is spanning Times dark surges. Its high ARCH
A type of Love and Mercy on the cloud
Tells that the many storms of human life
Will pass in silence, and the sinking waves,
Gathering the forms of glory and of peace,
Reelected the undimmed brightness of the heav-
ems.