New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-03-30
Waiting for the Dawn.

There is an hour Of deepest ~blackness,
which precede's Aurora's first blush in the
east, SO dense and palpable that those OBJ
servant of nature in her multifariOus
changes tell us "the darkest time of night
precedes d~aybreak." 1t may be that we
have watched through long periods of
mental midnight, hope after hope dying
cut like the stars before the sun; it may be
that, weary RI the chill watcher by a dying
couch, we have waited for that single beam
of consolation which would give us strength
to endure till more light should come.
Perchance it never did come, and then in
the majesty of our nature (for, amid the
wrecks of its original nobility, there is
something great in fallen human nature
Milton admits this of Satan event a proud
and defiant spirit takes the place of de-
spondeacy, and we exclaim, Even without
~Iight"-that is, hope-"I will work ont my
destiny"
The ~poets-those prophets who sang from
inspiration rather than tutelage-declared
long ago the fallaCy of hope, brought by
the tabled philsnthropist Prometheus from
the skies. Now. hope is d good and gra-
cious thing. England's greatest lyrIst has
devoted one ofthe most classical poems in the
language to glorify this feeling, sentiment,
or whatever else intellectual philosophers
choose to style this buoyant principle or
aid of man. But that spirit, truly great,
which can labor without hope, simply be-
cause convinced of truth, while reward is
forgotten, commands our deepest venera-
ton. Such an one can wait tor dawn, and,
though it never come, will die unaltered in
purpose. But poets differ, after their fanci-
ful style, as We before said, in estimating
hope. One sings thus:
Rope. heaven born cherub, still appears.
Hover misfortune seems to lower;
Her smile the threatening tempest cheers,
And Is the rainbow of the shower.
Another, having tested the fallacy of
This syren, exclaims:
Mans cup of bliss Is full, when To-
Dash'd from. his lips. it's contents How
Scattered and sunken In the dust.
What is the hope that mOrtals trustl
A gilded palace, crumbling soon;
4 painted flower, that dies at noon,
4 dream of bliss. q passing ray,
That cheers the pilgrims onward way.
AmeteOr, cleaning on the sight;
A star, soon hid in clouds of night;
4 proud ship, sink ng in the sea;
A bird of beauty, soon to fee;
A rainbow. DER the arching heaven;
A green tt, g, by keen lightning rivea.
4 world OF Joy, that may not last;
A fragrant zephyr, floating past:
A sunny wave, n feeting smile,
Short liv'd and living to beguile.
30 much for earthly hope, compounded of
desire and expectation. Not so that other
aud supernal CONSIDER, the hope that takes
bold on eternity, and which hat same glo-
nous lyrist, already adverted to, thus char
soterizes with a force and fire never destined
to become weakened or dimmed:
When wrapped in fire, the realms of ether gio~,
And heavens last thunder shakes the world below,
Thou, u~ndismayed. shalt DER the ruin smile.
And light thy torch at natures funeral pile.
Who would not wait for dawn in this
higher sensei The night may be long, the
path thorny, and earthly hope may vanish
away, but the luminous dawn of eternal
light will only be enhanced, were that pos
sible, to such as wait for its coming, unin-
shared by the vices of this preparatory
state of being.