Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1876-11-08
THE FLOOD OF YEARS.


Mighty Hand from an exhaustless urn
Pouis forth the neyer.ending Flood Of Years
Among the nations. How the rushing waves
Bear NIL before them On their foremost edge,
And there alone, Is Life the Present thore
Tostes and foams and fills the air with roar
or mingled noises. There arc they who toll,
And they who strive, and they who feast and the,
Who hurry to and fro. The sturdy hind
| Woodman and deliver with the spadc--are there,
And busy artisan beside his bench,
And pallid student with his written roll.
a moment on the mounting pillows seen
The food sweeps over them and they are gone.
There groups Of reyelers, whose brows are twlncd
With roses, ride the topmost swell awhile,
And, as they raise their flowing cups to touch
The clinking brim to brim, are wlirled beneath
| The waves and disappear hear the jar
OF beaten drums and ihunders that break forth
From cannon, where the advancing bilow sends
Up to the sight long flies Of armed men, tIf
That hurry to the charge through hamo and smoke,
The torrent bears them under, whelmed and hid,
Slayer and slain, In heaps OF bloody foam.
Down 60 the s,ced and rider the plumed chief
Sinks with his fellows the head that wears
The imperial diadem goes down beside
The felon's, with cropped ear and branded check.
funeral train--the torrent sweeps away
Bearers and bier and mourners. By the bed
OF one who dies men gather sorrowing,
And women weep aloud. The food rolls on
The wall Il ttined and the sobbing group
Borne under. Hark to that shrill sudden shout
The cry Of an appauding multitude,
Swnyod by some lcud-tongued orator, who wields
The living mass as II he wero its soul.
The waters choke the shout and all is still.
Lo, next, a knecling crowd and one who spreads
The hands in prayer; the engu6ng wave o'ertakes
And swallows them and him. sculptor wields
The chiscl, and the stricken marble grows
To beauty at his easel, eager.eyod.
A painter stands, and sunshine at his touch
Gathers upon the canvas and life glows
A poet, as be PAGES to and fro,
Murmers his sounding lines. Awhile they ride
The advancing billow, Till It's tossing crest tasks
Strikes them and aings them under, while their
Are yet unfinished. See mother smile
On her young babe that smiles to her again
The torrent wrosts Il from her arms she shrieks
And wceps, and midst her tears is carried down.
A beam, like that Of moonlight, turns the spray
To glistening penrlsj two lovers, hand in hand,
Rise on the billowy swell and fohdy look
luto each others eyes. The rushing food
Filings them apart; the youth goes down. the maid,
With hands outstretehed in vain a streaming eyes,
Waits for the next high wave to follow him.
An aged man succeeds his bending form
Sinks slowly mingling with the sullen stream
Clean the white locks, and then are seen no more.
Lo, wider grows the stream q sca-like food
Saps eartbs walled cities massive palaces
crumble before It; fortresses and towers
Dissolve in the swim waters popuous REALMS,
Swept by the torrent, see their ancient tribes
Engulied and lost, their very languages
Stined and never to be uttered more.
pause and turn my eyes and, looking back,
Where that tumultnous Aood has passed, / soc
The silspt Ocean Of the Past, waste
or waters weltering over graves, its shores
Strewn with the wreck Of aeets where mastand hull
Drop away piecemcal batilemented walls
Frown idly, green with moss, and temples stand
unrooied forsaken by the worshippers.
There lie memorial stones, whence time hos gnawed
The craven legends, thrones of kings o'erluned,
The broken altars Of forgotten gods,
Foundations Of old cities and long streets,
Where never fall Of human foot is heard
Upon the desolate pavement. behold
Dim glimmefiIgs Of lost jewels far within
The sleeping waters, diamond, sardonyx,
Ruby ond topaz, pearl and chrysOlito,
Once glittcring at the banquet on fair brows
That long ago were dust and oil around,
strewn on the waters Of that silent sea,
Are withering bridal wreaths and glossy locks,
shorn from fair brows by loving hands, and scrolls
O'erwritten-haply With fond words of love
And VOWS Of friendship p-and fair pages flung
A moment, and then sink away from sight
look, and the quick tears are in my eyes,
For behold In every one Of these
A blighted hope, separate history
Of human sorrow, telling Of dear ties
Suddenly broken, dreams OF happiness
Dissolved in air, and happy days, too brief,
That sorrowfully ended and think
How painfully must the poor heart have beat
In bosoms without number, as the blow [peace.
Was struck that slew their hope or broke their
Sadly I,tgsn and look before, where yet
The food must pass, aud I behold mist,
Where swarm dissolvng forms, tho brood Of Hope,
Diyinely fair, that rest on the banks OF flowers,
Or wander among rnnbows, fading soon nN
And re-appearing. happy giving place
To shapes Of grisly aspect, such as Fear
Mods from the idle air. whore serpents lift
The head to strike, and skeletons stretch forth
The bony arm in menace. Further on
A belt OF darkne,s 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 1t, near and nearer II must pass
That dismal barrier. What is their beyond
Hear what the wise and good have said. Beyond
That belt Of darkness still the years roll on
More gently but with not less mighty sweep.
They gather mp again and softly bear
All the sweet lives that late we're overwhelmed
And lost to sight--all that 10 them was good,
Noble and truly great snd worthy Of love-
The lives Of infants aud ingenious youths,
ssges and sanity women, who have mide
Their households happy-al are raised and borne
By that great current In its onward sweep,
Wandering and ripplng with caressing waves
Around green islands, fragrant with the breath
OF flowers that never wither. So they pass,
From stage to stage, along the shining course
OF that fair river, broadening like a sea.
As its smooth oddies curl along their way,
They bring old friends together; hands are clasped
In JOY unspeakable the mothers arms
A gain are folded round the child she loved
Aud lost. Old sorrows are forgotten now,
Or bat remembered TO make sweet the hour
That oyerpays them wounded hearts that blcd
Or broke are healed forever. In the room
OF this grief shadowei Present there shnll be
Present in whose reign no grief shall gnaw
The heart and never shall tender tie
BE brokon-in whose reign the eternal Change
That waits on growth and action shall proceed
With everlasting Concord, hand In hand