Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-01-01
THE CLOSE OF fHE YEAR.


Gone, Gone for everl Like rushing wave
Another year has burst upon the shore Sd
| OF earthly being-and Is last low tones
| Wandering in broken accents on the air,
Are dying 10 an echo.
The gay spring
With its Young charms has gone, gone with il
It's atmosphere of roses. Its white clouds
Slumbering like seraphs inthe air-its birds
| Telling their loves in music, and its streams
| Leaping and shouting. from the up-piled rocks
To make earth echo with the joy of waves.
And summer with it, dews and showers has
gone,
Its rainbows glowing on the distant cloud
Like spirits OF the stOrm-its peaceful lakes
Smiling in their sweet sleep, as ii then dreams
Were OF the opening flowers and budding trees
And Overhanging sky-and its bright mistS
Resting upon the mountain tops as cFOwnS.
Upon the heads of giants. Autumn, too,
Has gone! With an is deeper glories gone,
With its green hills, ike altars of the world
Lifting their rich fruit offerings to their God.
Its cool winds stTaying mid the forest aisles
To wake the thousand wind harps; iissereIe
And holy sunsets hanging DER the West,
Like banners from the battlements of heaven.
And its still eyenings-when the mOOnlit sea
Was ever thrObbing-like the living heart
OF the great Universe. All, these are now
But sounds and visions of the past-their deep
Wild beauty has departed from the earth
And they are gathered TO the embrace of death,
Their solemn herald to eternity.
Nor have they gone alone. High human hearts
OF passion have gone with them. The fresh
dust
Is chill on many breast that burnt erewhne
With fires that seemed immortal. joys that
leaped
Like angels from the heart, and wandsred free
In this young morn, 10 look upon the flowers,
The poetry of nature, and to list
Upon the night air. have been stricken down
In silence TO the dust. ENultant Hope,
That rOved forever on the buOyant winds
Like the bright starry bird OF Paradise,
AFasf ~. IN Z he nr-lnr- list q
In the wild music of thousand tongues,
Or scared into the open sky until
Night's burning gems seemed ieweled on her
brow.
Has shut her dropping wings, and made her
house
Within the voiceleSs sepulchre. And Love,
That knelt at Passions hottest shrine and gaZed
ON his hearts idol n on some sweet star
Whose purity and distance made II dear,
And dreamed Of ectacies, until his soul
Seemed but a Tyre, that Weakened in the glance
OF the beloved one. he too has gone
To his eternal resting place And where
Is stern Ambition? He who madly grasped
At GlOry's feeting phantom; he who sought
His fame upon the battle field, and lOngel
To make his throne pyramid Of bones
Amid n sea of blOOti He too has gone!
His stormy voice is mute--his mighty arm
Is neTveless nits clOd, his very name
Is hut a meteor of the night OF years
Whose CLEAN flashed ont moment DER the
earth
And faded into nothingness. The dream
Oh high NeNnflOn, bGatllN dEIdNf
And life's deep idol memories. all have passed.
Like the cloud shadows ON a starlit stream
OR a stream of soft 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 mysteI Gus tide
OfOla Eternity, aud borne along
Upon it, heaying breast Thousand wrecks
OF glory ana Of beauty. Yet. why mourn
That such l. destiny? Another year
Succeedeth to the past. In their bright round
The seasons come and 60; the same blue arch
That hath hung DER Us, will hang Ger Us yet,
The same pure stars that we have loved 70 watch
Will blossom still at twilight's gentle hour
Like lilies on the tomb Of day-and still
Man will remain 70 dream a. he hath deamed,
And mark the earth with passion. Love viii
From the lone tomb Of old affections. Hope
And JOv. and great Ambition will rise up
A. thew have risen, and their deeds will be
Brighter than those engraven on the scroll
or the past centuries. Even now the sea
OF coming years. beneath whose mighty waves
LIES great events are heaying into birth,
l. tossing % and fro. as il the WINS
OF heaven were priSOneJ in its sOundless depths
And struggling 20 be free
Weep not that time
Is pressing on, it viii ere long reveal
A brighter era Ia the nations Hark!
Along the wales and mountains of the earth
There is a deep, pOrtentous murmuring,
Like the swift rush OF SUbteTTanean streams,
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 huTries onward, with his might of clouds
Against the eternal mountains. lis the voice
of infant Free,Om. and her stirring call
i heard and answered in a thousand tones.
From every hilltop OF her Western home,
And lu-it breaks across old oceans tiOOd.
And Freedom, Freedom" i the answering
shout
OF nations starting from the spell OF wears.
The dayspring-see-'tis Frightening in the
heavens,
The watchmcn OF the night have caught the sign;
From tower 10 tower the signal fires flash free,
And the deep watchWord. like the rush of seas,
That hrTal,s the volcanoes bursting flame,
i sounding DER the earth. Bright years OF Hope
And Life are cn the wing. NOn glorious how
Of Freedom. hsnde,l by the hand OF Col,
i spanning Times dark Surges. Its high arch
A tNpe OF Love and Mercy-On the clOJd>
Tells that the many storms Of human life
VIII pass in silence, and the sinking waves.
the forms 0i glory and OF peace.
Reflect the uutlimme,i brightness Of the heavens,