New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-07-19
THE FLOOD OF YEARS.
BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT

BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.
A Mighty Hand from an exhaustess urn,
Pours forth the never-ending Flood OF Years
Among the nations. How the rushing waves
Bear al before them. On their foremost edge,
And there alone, is Life; the Present there
losses aud fOams and fills the ar with roar
OF mingled noises There are they who toll, ,
And they who~trive and they who feast, and they
Who hurry to and fro. The sturdy hind,
WOodman and deliver with the spade-are there,
And busy artisan beside his bench, -
And pallid student with his written roll.
A moment on the mounting billow seen
The food sweeps over them and they are gone
There groups of jewellers, whose brOws are twlned
With roses. ride the topmost swell awhile
And rs they raise their flowing cups 10 tOuch
The blinking brim TO brin, are whired beneath
The waves and disappear. hear the jar
OF beaten drums, and thunders that break forth
From cannon where the advancing billow SENDS
Tn to the sight long files of armed men,
That hurry to the charge through fame and smoke.
The torrent bears them under, wheiined and hid,
SLAYER aud slain, in heaps of bloody foam.
Down go the stced and rider; the piuined chlet
Sinks with his followers; the head that wears
The imperial dadem goes down beside
The felon's with cropped ear and branded cheek.
funeral train-the torrent sweeps away
Bearers and bier and momuers. BY the bed
OF one who dies men gather sOfrowlng,
Aud women weep aloud; the food rolls on;
The wall is stihed, and the sobbipg group
Borne under. Hark TO that shrlll sudden shout
The cry OF an app1udiug multitude
Swayed by some lUud-tOECued orator who Yields
The living mass, as if ne were its soul.
The waters choke the shout and all is still.
10, next q kneeling crowd and one who spreads
The hands in prayer; the engulfng wave oertakes
And swallows them and him. A sculptor Yields
The chisel, and the stricken marble grows
To beauty; at his easel, cager-eyed,
4 painter stands, and Sunshine, at his touch
Gathers upon the canvas, and life glOws;
poet as lac PAGES to and fro,
Marmurs his sounding lines. Awhile they ride
The advancing billOw. till its tossing crest
Strikes them and filings them under while their
tasks
Are yet unfinished. See mother smile
On her young babe that smiles to her again
The torrent wTcsts il from her arms she shri"ks,
And weeps, and midst her tears Is carried down.
beam like that Of moonlight turns the spray,
To glistening pearls two lovers, hand IN hand
Rise Oh the bllOwy swell and fondly look
Into each others eyes. Tie rushing Hood
filings them apart the youth goes down the maid,
With hands outstretched in vain and streaming
Waits for the next high wave to follow him.
An aged man succeeds his bending form
Sinks slowly mingng with the suilen stream
Clean the white locks and then are seen no more.
Lo, wider grows the stream; sea-lkc flood
ssps eaTthS walled cities massive palaces
CTuinbe before IL fOrtles>es and towers
Dissolve in the swift watele; Topglous realms
swept by the torrent, their ancient tribes
Engufed and lost their very languages
Stirred aud never TO be uttered more
pause and turn my eyes and, looking back,
Where that tumultuous flood Ia: passed. see
The silent Ocean Of the Past, waste
Of waters welteTing over graves, IT'S shores
strewn with tie wreck of fleets, where mast and hull
Drop away piecemcal battlementcd walls
FroWn idly, green with mcsG, and temples stand
UnTocfed, for5akcn by the worShipcrs.
There lie memorial stones, whence time has gnawed
The craven legends, thrones of kings oerturned
The broken altars of forgotten gods,
Foundation of old cities and long streets
Where never fall Of human foot is heard
Upon the deSOlatc pavement. | behold
Din gmmeIings OF lost jewels iar within
The sleeping waters diamond, sard0nyX,
Ruby and topaz, pearl and chrFs0E,e,
Once gttering al the banquet on fair brows
That long ago were dust: aud all around,
StTewu on the waters of that silent sea,
Are whitening bridal wredthS, and glossy locks
IL. Il. lie
Oerwrtten,-hapiy with fond words of love
And of fricndshp-and fair pages flung
A moment and then sink away from eight.
look, and the quick tears are in 10y eyes,
For behold liz every one Of these,
A bljghted hope, a separate history
OF human sorrow, telling Of deaT ties
Suddenly broken, dreams of happiness
Dissolved in air, aud happy days. too brief,
That sorrOwiully ended, and think
How painfully mast the poor heart have beat
In bOsOms without number, "a the blow
Was struck that slow their hope or broke their
Sadly turn, aud look before, where vet
The Flood must pass, aGd behold mist
Where swarm dsSOlving forms the brood of Hope,
Divinely fair, that rest ON banks OF flowers
Or wander among rain bows, fading soon
And reappearing, haplY giving place
70 shapes OF gI1siy aspect, such as Fear
The head 10 strike, and skeletons stretch forth
The bony arm in menace. Further on
A belt OF darkness seems 10 bar the way,
LONG, low and distant, where the Life that Is
Touches the Life to Come. The Flood of Years
Rolls toward it, near and nearer. it must pass
That dismal barrier. What is there beyond
HoaI what the wise and good have said. Beyond
Plat belt of darkness still the years roll on
More gently, but with not less mighty sweep.
They gather up again and softly bear
AL the sweet lives that late were overwhelmed
Aud lost to sight--al that III them good,
Noble, and truly great and worthy OF love
The lives Of infants and ingenious youths,
Ssges and sanity women who have made
Their households happy-ali are raised aud borne
BY that great current IN it's onward sweep,
Wandering and ripping with carcsSing waves
Around green islands, fragrant WITH the breath
OF flowers that never withcr So they pass,
From stage 10 stage. along the shining course
OF that fair river broadening ike a sea
As its smooth eddics curl along their way,
They bling old friends together bands are clasped
In Joy unspeskable; the mothers arms
Again are folded round the child Size loved
And lost. Old Sorrows arc forgotten now,
Or but remembered 70 make sweet tho hOur
That overpays them; wounded hearts that bled
On broke are healed forever. In the room
OF this gricf-shadcwed Present there shall DO
A Present III whose rel IN no giici snail gnaw
The heart and never shall u tender tie
Be brOkeu-in whose reign the eternal Change
That waits on growth and action shall proceed
With everlasting Concord hand in hand.
THE ATLANTIC FOR AUG USE
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