The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1876-08-05
THE FLOOD OF YEARS.
BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

THE FLOOD OF YEARS.
By WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.
A Mighty Hand, from an exhaustless urn,
Pours Iorth the neyer-endng Flood OF Years
Among the nations. How the rushing waves
Bear all before them! ON their foremost edge,
Aud there alone IS Life; the Pre-; ent there
= osses and loans and nils the air with roar
or mingled noises. There are they who toll
And they who strive, and they who feast, and
who hurry tn and fro. The sturdy hind
Woodma and deliver with the spade-are
And busy artisan beside hts bench.
And paltd student with his written roll
A moment on the mounting biow seen
The food sweeps over them and they are gone,
There groups Of jewellers, whose brows are
twined
And as they raise their flowing cups to touch
The cinking brlm to prm, are whirled be-
The waves and disappear. hear the jar
or beaten dIums, and thunders that break
forth
From cannon, whore tho advancing billow
Up tothe sight long files of aimed men,
That hurry TO the charge through flame and
smoke,
The terreut pears them UNDER whelmed and
slayer and slain in heaps OF bloody foam.
Down go the steed and rider; the plumed chief
Sinks with his followers the head that wears
The imperial dad, m goes down beside
The 1eloA's with cropped ear and branded
cntfk
A funeral train-the torrent sweeps away
Bearers ana bier ana mourners By the bed
OF one WHO dies men gather sorrowlns,
ana ana Momen weep aloud me n;Ua i0,Is on
HJne uuutr. Hafk to that shIiil sudden
shout
1he ci5 u an applauding multitude
swayeG BY slime iodd tongueu orator who
Yields
The lnils mas. as II lie were It's soul
The wars CHOKE the sDout ana aliis still.
Ia "a who
spreads
Tie bGids n prayer the engulfing wave Oct
takes
Aud sWA4uws them and lin. A sculptor
40 beauty Ht MS VHsu, go ~s',i~. 49,, INC
4 painter ; i.l.is, and sunshine, az MS touch,
Gathers upon tue canvas, aud HE gl0ws
a poet, as lie PAGES 10 anu llo,
MUgmulS ME hUundin5 INES ANnlIe they rae
Iue Advancing uulo'., TN hi tossing crest
lies tuem ana tlinAs Them under While their
Ar.ytGun0pish. d. see a mother smile
On her Guns UaUe that suiies 10 her again
The tor ut wrests IL rfon her arms ; she
ana wetls, and midst her tears is carried
A beam IKE that of moonlight turns the spray
10 -4lstening pcals: Iwo lovers, hanu III hdhu,
III c ON Use UlliOwy swell aru Ionuly luSK
IntU each ON r s eJ rs. Ihe rushing Houu
Film Inen apart the youth CUES uo"h the
With halas outstrelched in vain and streaming
Waits io4 tha next high wave to follow him.
AA ased man suc.eels ms oehuiag i0rm -,
sinks SLOW ~ mIuglnS Win Tie SuIieh stream
Lneam Lue "illte lJcks and tuen arc seen Il q,
more,
lo. Ter crows the stream the sea-like flood
Saps earJh', walled clues massive palaces
,ruinulc before 1t !; IortresSeS ana towers
DIS Owe in Lne swift waters popuIous realms
swept by The torrent see their ancient tribes
EhgultcI and lost Their very Languages
St,fl ID Il never 10 be ulttiel more.
pause ana turn my eyes and, looking back,
Where tlat tunlultuyus II Jod has passed, see
he silent ocean VI the Fast, a " aste
u waters welterins over II ives, It's shores
Strewn With the wreck OF fleets, where mast
Drop away plecemeal battlemented walls
/ rown IDLY, green with moss, and temples
stand
Unrooled, TO- saken by the worshipers.
| There lie memorial stones, whence time has
gnawed
The craven legends thrones OF kings Ger
turned,
The broken affairs of forgotten gods,
| Foundations OF old cities aud long streets
Where never fan or human loot Is heard
| Upon tho dt ISOLATE pavement l behold
| Dim gllmmerngs Oh lost Jewels far within
The. sleeping water diamond, sardonyx,
| kury aud topaz, pearl and chryaolite,
| once gHtterlng at the banquet On far brows
| That long ago were dust ; and all around.
| Strewn on the waters or tnat silent sea
| Are whitening bridal wreaths, and glossy lecks
shorn from fair brows by loving nands, and
| scrolls
Overwhelmingly with fond words OF love
| Aud VOWS OF Fri ndship-and fair pages lung
Fresh from the printers engine. There they
moment and then sink away from sight.
| l LOOK, anu then the quick tears are In my
| eyes
For Behold, In every one of these,
| A bligh ed hope, Il separate history
| or human sorrow, telling OF dear Ties
| Suddenly broken, dreams OF happiness
blssolyed In air, and happy days, too brief
| That sorrOwfully ended, and think
| How painfully must the poor heart have beat
| In DOsoms without number. as the blow
| Was struck that slew their hope or broke theli
peace.
Sadly turn, and look before. where yet
| The Flood must pass, and beheld mist
Where swarm oissolvlDg forms, the brood o.
Hope,
Dyinely rair, that rest on banks of flowers
or wander among rainbows, fading soon
And reappearlng, happy giving pace
no shapes OF grisy aspect, such as Fear
Molds IRON the Idle an; where serpenl 5 lilt
Tine head 10 strike, ana skeletons stretch loiti
The bony arm In menace. Further ON
A belt OF darkness seems TO bar the way,
Long, low and distant, where the lie thas ~
1Oucht the Life TO Come. The Flood or Year
Rolls toward IL, near ana nearer. IL must pass
That dismal barrier. What Is there beyond?
Hear what the wise and good have said. BE
That belt OF darkness still the years roll on
More gently, but with rot less mighty sweep.
| They gather up again and softly pear
All the sweet lives that late Were overwhelmed
Ana lost to sight-ail that In them was good,
Noble, and truly great ans worthy OF Love
|
| sages and sanity women who have made
Their households happy-all are raised AM
| borne
BY that great current Units onward sweep,
Wandering and rippling with caresslng waves
| Around green islan1s, fragrant win the preatl
| on flowers that never wlther. So they pass,
From stage TO stage, along the shining course
| or tnat fair river broadening ike sea.
AS its smooth eddes curl along their way,
Tney bring old friends together hands ar
| casped
In 10y unspeakable the mothers arms
| Again are folded round the child she loved
| And lost D sorrows are f0rg, item now,
Or but remembered 10 make sweet the hour
That overpays them wounded hearts that Dle
or broke are healed forever In the room
OF this griefs hadowed Present there shall be
| A Present In whose reign no grief shall gna'
: The heart, and never shall tender tie
, BE brOken--in whose reisn the eternal Chang
That waits on gro tn ana action shall procee
with everlasting Concord hand In hand.
-------------------
An Interesting Service,
| On Sunday morning July OH, an inter
esiing service took place at the venerable
| A Il.