Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1874-01-15
THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR.
by GEORGE D. PRENTICE.

Are dying to an echo.
The gay spring
With its young charms has gone, gone
with its leaves,
Its atmospheric Of roses, its white clouds
slumberlng like se-aphs in TIE sir--its
| birds .i
Telling their loves in music, and streams
Leaping and shouting, from the up piled
rocks 'rr 4,
To make earth echo wlththe Joy of waves;
And summer with Its 1ews and showers
ITS ralpB6Es glowing on the distant cloud
Like spirits Of the dorm its peaceiul
Smiling in thoit Sweet sleep,as if their
dreams nu. ..,,t,
Were of opening flowers and budding
And overhahgihg sky-and its bright
.nists s,...
Resting upon the mountain tops as crowns
Upon the Iiieads pf giants. Autumn, too,
Has gonel With all It's deeper glories
With It's gftsh hills, like altars of the
world
Lifting their fruit offerings to their God,
Its coil winds straying mid the forest
TO wake the thousand wind harps its
serene
And holy sunsets hanging DER the west,
Like hammers from the battlemeEts OF
heaven, ...
And its still evcning-when the mOonlit
sea
Was ever throbbing--like the living heart
| Ofthe great Universe. All, these are now
But sounds and visions Of the past-their
deep, t
" lid beauty has departed from the earth,
And they are gathered to the embrace OF
death, lrr-
Their solemn herald to eternity.
For have they gone alone. High human
| hearts ..a...
OF passion have gone With them. The
fresh dust .u.
Is chill ON many O breast that burned
crewhile ..l.u go 81, ~. ..t.
With fires that seemed immortal. Joys
that leaped a.tr.. a'3
Like angels from the heart, and wander
ed free l. -..+.'. .r
In this young morn, tolook upon the how-
| ers,
The poetry of nature, ahd TO list
| The woven sounds of breeze and bird
and stream ht,
Upon the night air, have been stricken
down 80,
In silence to the dust. Exultant Hope.
That roved forever on the buoyant winds
Like the bright starry bird of Paradise,
And chanted to tile ever listening heart
In the wild music of thousand tongues,
Or scared the open sky until - u
Nights burning gems seemed jeweled on
her brow,
Has shut her dropping wings, and made
| a, !, her house
Within the voiceless sepulchrc. And
Love,
That knelt at PASSIONS hottest shrine and
On his hearts idol as on some sweet star
Whose purity and distance made it dear,
And dreamed of ecstacies, until his soul
Seemed but Tyre, that weakened in the
glance
or the beloved one, he, too, has gone
10 his eternal resting-place. And where
Is stem AmbitionY He who madly grasp
At Glory's feeting phantom; he who
sought 49,
His fame upon the battle field. and tonged
| To make his throne pyramid Of bones
~
His stormy voice IS mute--his mighty arm
| Is neveriess on its ciod, his very name
| Is but meteor of the night of years
| Whose CLEAN flashed out moment Ger
the earth go
And faded into nothlngness. The dream
OF high devotion, Beauty's bright array,
! And life's deep idol memories, all have
| passed
Like the cloud-shadows on starllt stream
Or stream of soft music, when the
winds e
Are shunbering on the billow.
,.s<~ Yet why muse
Upon the past with sorrow9 Though the
Has gone to blend with the mysterious
| tide . a. , = 49, 10, a.
OF old Eternity, and borne along
Upon Its heaving breast, a thousand
wrecks
or glory aud beauty. Yet, why mourn
That such is destiny! Another Iear
Succeeded to the past. In their bright
The seasons come and go; the same blue
That hath hung o'er us. win hang DER us
| yet,
The same pure stars that we have loved
VIM i blossom SssC still atNwilight's gentle
Like iiiiies 81 the tomb of day-and still
Man will remain to dream as he hath
1 dreamed, r.st 40 aa
And mark the earth with passion, Love
/ with spring
From the lone tomb of old affections.
=. Hope
And JOY, and great Ambition will rise
4 up
As they have risen, and their deeds will
! be ~ FHNFf
Brighter than those engraven on the
scroll 49,. r-
or past centuries. Even now tho sea
OF coming years, beneath whose mighty
waves ..,..
Life's great events.aFe heaving into birth
Is tossing to-aud fro, as If the winds
I OF heaven we're prisoned In Its soundless
depths ~3.'
And struggling to be free. ~
'~'-s-I.t9 = Weep not that time
Is pressing on, Il will ere long reveal ID
A brightkr era to the pations. Hark!
Along,.the vRles and mountains OF the
| earth b, Ia "a ~ i
There Is deep, poutentous murmuring,
Like the swift rush oil subterranean
| stveams - > 49,. {. ~
Or like the mingled sounds Of earth and
| air 81; -; 4vsA tigA
When the fierce tempest with sonorous
Heayes his deep folds upon the rushing
And harries onward, with his might OF
Against the eternal mountaias. 'Tis the