New-York tribune., 1874-09-09
F-o~ slsokwooSs Gasassss fev septe~eer.
10 CHARLES SUMNER.
IN MEMORIAM.

The unbroken line of sympathy still throODou'
And unto both its constant message brought
And so felt you were not far away
The mere material distance seemed TO lay
Brief barrier TO our meeting. and dreamed
That some day we should meet; ay. any day
That we again should clasp each others hano'
Speak as Of old, and face to face should stahui
Renew the past and plot and plan again.
Asin years past we plotted and we planned.
That hone ,s vanished nova sudden change
Hath borne you from me far beyond the range
or that familiar life that here we knew
Into region dim and far and strange
A yaster sea divides us nova stretch
Across whose space we yainly strive TO reach'
Whose deeps mau passes never to return
From whose far shores there comes no human speech
In one swift moment you have passed and gone
Out on the blind way all must tread alone,
Uncompanied, uufriended, none knows where,
Gone out into the vague aud vast unknown.
Gone where no mortal sense track your flight
Gone where Faith casts o weak and waverlng hght,
Where trembling Hope and Fear bewildered stray,
Lost In the pathless silent shades OF night
Vanished for ever from this world away,
From ali the accidents OF Night and Day,
The seasons chance and cnange, the voice OF man,
And all LIES passion, JOY, hope pain, and play
Gone in an instant like a breath of wind,
Through which the spirit, with such wOndrous art,
Thrilled its fine harmonies Of sense aud mind.
nei-what is gone, and whittier has it hedi
What means this dreadful utterance-he is dead
What is tnis strange mysterious tie called Life,
That bindeth soul TO sense by such slight threadf
Loves grasp is strong, and yet it could not hold
The somewhat that II loved; and thought Is poldl
Yet stroye in vain to follow whore 1t fed,
Aud sank 10 earth, the secret all untold.
Where ond what are you now I what DO you know,
See, feeli Is sll that was so dark below
Cleared up at lasti Does memory still rema
And do you long for us who loved you sol
In this new life does human feeling lastf
Or has oblivion botted out the Past
All the glad Joys OF this warm life OF sense,
And all the lights and shadows Ger it castf
Or are you nothing now i-gone like a tone
That dies TO silence-or light that shone
One cleaning moment swift to disappear,
BY deaths cold breath to utter darkness blown!
To all these questions comes silence drear:-
Stretched o'er Lfe's utmost verge with longing eas
The still soul listens, but no answer comes
Save the low heart-beats of its hope or fear.
So we return to eartll-we laugh and weep,
Love, hope, despair. Time In its silent sweep
Bears US along-tin, tired out at last,
Gladly we lay us down IN deaths deep sleep.
A peaceful charm OF rest from all our cares.
Why should we wish TO toll and struggle moref
Is not sleep sweet If no dark dreams it bearst
Look at this face where death has laid It's hand,
How calm 1t looks !-how sOrrowess, how grandI
Life's fever over, all the passions fed
All the lines smoOthed they burn as with brand
Not joys glad smile in happiest hours 1t bore,
Not Loves enchanted look that once it wore,
Could lend grace noble. so refined,
As now 1t wears when JOY and Love are Ger.
And yet-that peace will never soothe our paini
He whom he loved is lost. Come back again,
Come back we cry: 10, never all our love
And all our grief cry out for him in vain.
That pictured memory graced with treasures fs7A
That stored experience rich with learning rare
Those garnered thoughts aud those affections fine|'
Are they all squandercd, lost, dispersed in ar .
Seek as you wlll-blind creature-never eye
OF mortal man shall pierce this mystery.
This this alone We know. that nought we know,
And yet we feel-ife surely cannot die.
Change 1t may sufer-vanish from us here,
In forms beyond our ken TO reappear.
Pass up the flute scale Of seed, stalk, flower,
To odor-theD exhsle beyond this sphere.
But death-blank nothing! at the very thought
Reason recoils-Faith shudders-Hope, distraught.
Reels back aghast; wild imagining
Can shape a shapeess empty void of naught
To somewhat, vague and dim howe'er it be,
The soul must cling-mere black inanity
Dehes our utmost stretch Of widest thought.
And here at least Hope, Reason, Faith agree.
Then why with nightmare dreams our spirits scaref
If we will dream-how sweeter and more fair
Hopes promise OF a lofter life beyond,
With larger loving and an ampler air.
or vaster regions lifted from the sphere
OF doubt and struggle that harass us here,
Where the freed spirit moving ever Oh,
Breathes a diviner, purer atmosphere.
So will I dream, since nothing we can know,
Your soul, epfrancbised, wanders TO and fro
On some Elysan plain beyond our sense,
Communing with great spirits as you CO.
That oft tender memory, turning, strays
To us who tread below these earthly ways,
Not mourning for we mourn for you,
But seeing clear above this cloudy maze.
That, purged Of Time, your spirit larger grows
In that new being-asklng not repose,
But with new aims and more expanded powers,
On, on, for ever with glad purpose goes.
And if tits ali dream-so let 1t be;
Who shall decide when all is mysteryi
And yet rather choose this heavenly dream
Than deaths dark horror Of inanity.
At least your noble thoughts never die
They live to stir and ritt humanity
They live to sweeten life and cheer us on:
II they are with Us. surely you are nigh.
Yes, in our memory, long as sense remains,
That stawart frame shall live, that voice whose strain
To lofty purpose pitched, struck like a fire
Into our bLOod and thrilled through all our veins.
That full sonorous voice, whose highstrung key
Was tuned 10 Justice and TO Liberty
That sounded like charge to rouse the world
From the deep slumber OF its apathy.
Nor these alone I'VE shall remember toe
The kind familiar tones Of love we knew,
The genial converse and the storied lore,
The cultured charm that every listener drew.
The gladsome smlle the geam Of quick surprise,
That thrilled the face and ghened through the eyes
The uplifting brow, the utterance frank and clear.
And all that sullen death to sight denies.
Alas how idle arc the words we sayi