The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1874-04-03
For the True Northerner.


That decks the wood or plain,
Has once in darkness, damp. aud gloom,
Its term apportioned lain;
And yet its life was never lost,
But proved and fostered, where
The elements il needed most
To make it spring all fail.
We're garnered by The Great First Cause.
The lofty hill. the massive rock,
Were particles at first;
And though they crumble IN some shock,
Remain the same as erst
No atom lost, they live anew
In but another form;
And scan creation through and through,
Matter out-rides each storm,
Obedient to God-giyen laws!
Change, with its countless, mystic hands,
Works ever, far and near;
But vainly thro times dense. gross bands,
Our eyes essay to peer
Amid arcana deep and high.
To construe Natures page;
And so the souls despairng cry
For an immortal guags
Itself TO span, rings wildly forth.
And is not this same thrilling cali,
The earnest OF lfe
Begun mid darkness doubt and thrall;
10 progress, though through strife,
Into existence grand and true,
Which may not know decay
But grow in strength and beauty new.
With each succeeding day,
When Death shall give the real birth
This voice OF Immortality,
No doubt has pow'r to still
This spirit-reacbing Far and free
For knowledge. that can ill
The hunger of deathless mind,
Grows while the mortal fails
And as earth slips away, we fini
How little ii avails
To satisfy this craving need
All other wants NAV be supplied
The morsels prove but stale
A higher boon is asked beside
A look beyond the veil
This is the birth-cry OF the SOU
For its appointed food
The Heaven furnished mercy dols-
The essence OF all good.
Which, only, eau INN ortals feed
Shall dull, insensate matter range
Higher than mind aud thought
Meier lose particle by change,
And that become as raught
Shall the quick leappg, inner fire
Be quenched by Deaths chill touch
The fne-strung, deep-toned human Tyre.
Be crushed by his light clutch.
And only vacuum remain:
The ashes of the oaks that live
Anew, mayhap, in pine,
To me a sweet assurance give.
That soul-life is divine:
Blossoms that feed the insect triks,
see in plumage fair
Too bright for language to describe,
On bird forms sweep the air,
And beauty thrives by change, again
The gush OF JOY that floods the soul,
When beauty meets the eye,
Is a grand tidal waves soft roll
From beauty's fount on high:
A fount so deep, so full and pure,
Annihilations mouth,
Though yawnIng black, we may be sure
Can never bring 1t drouth,
OR aught decrease its overflow;
Which. fed from its eternal source,
Will ever bubble up,
And sparkle on its endless course,
Drumming LIES golden Guy
With streams that will refresh each aow'r,
Which stars times arid plains
And with their gentle. soothing pow'r,
Assuage, or heal the pains.
From thorns that wound Us Is we go
Oh doubling friend, JOY IN lie,
SO full Of promise high
In thought, and feeling deep, 50 rife
You Eao,r it cannot die
While He-The MiShty-reigns supreme,
Who kindled this strong spark;
And fans it, il but to gieam
Where else all had been dark;
And time trachess, blackened maze
Open your spirit eyes aud look,
The pale Dawn even now
The mist wreaths from her robe has shook,
And waits to battle your brow:
In rays FROM the fast rising sun
That burns but just below,
This earth-night's waning. fading dun.
Which soon will be aglow,
With heavens effulgent noontide blaze!
March ith, 1874. RUsTIcIA.