The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-06-18
THANATOPSIs.

To him who 10 the love Of Nature holds
Communion with her Visible forms she speaks
A various language; for his gAyer hours
she has q voice Of glAdness, and 4 Bmle
And eloquenoe Of beauty, and she glides
Into his darker musings, With mild
And healing sympathy, hat steal, away
Their sharpness, ere he 10 aware. When thoughts
OF the LIST bitter hour come Ikea blight
Over thy spirit, and nd Images
OF The stern agony, and shroud, and pail,
And breathlesa darkness, aud the narrow house,
Make thee TO shudder, and grow sick at heArt,-
Go forth, under the open sky, and list
To Natures teachings, while from all around
Earth and her waters, and the depths Of air.
Comes q ALL yoite-Yet q few days, and thee
The Rll.beholdlng sun shall zee no more
In all biz course, nor yet In the cold ground
where Ihy pale form was laid, With many tear,
Nor In the embrace Of ocean ihIll exist
Thy image. Earth, that nouItIhed thee, shall
claim
Thy growth, TO DO resolved to earth again,
And, Lost each human tTT &C, IurTenderlng up
Thine individual being, shalt thou 60
To mix forever with the elements,
To, be 4 brother 10 the inSeuslble rock
And TO the ilusIl,h clOd, which the rude swain
Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak
Shall send bis roofs abrlad, and pteIes Thy mould.
Yet not TO thine eternal Iestlng place
Shalt thou retire alone, Tor couldst thou yIh
Couch more magnificent. Thou LhAlt lie down
With patharrhs Of the infant world with kings,
The powerful Of the earth-the wise. the god,
Fair forms, and hOSry seers Of ages past,
Al. In one mighty sepulchre. abe hills
kOck.ibbed and ancient as the tun-the wales
Stretching 10 penhire quietness between
The venerable Woods-hyers that move
In majesty, and the complaining brooks
That make the meadows green; and, poured
round all,
Old oeean's gay and melancholy waste
are but the solemn decorations all
OF the great tomb Of man. The golden sun,
Tie planets, all the lnnnite host q heaven,
are ihlning on the sad abodes Of dlAth
Through the still lnpe Of ages. All that tread
Tho globe are but Il hndfalto the tribes
That Llumber IN ita bosom. Take the wings
OF morning, traverse Bsrra's desert sands,
Or lose iheyseli In the continuous woods
where rolls ihs Oregon, and hears no sound,
SIye his own dGshInss-yet the dead are there;
And millions In thoEe solitudeS since nnt
The flight Of years btgan, have laid them down
In thsir last sleep-the dead reign there alone.
90 shall thou rest, and what II thou withdraw
10 slenee from the living, and no friend
Taie note Of thy departurtH ALI that breathe
Will share thy destiny. Tbs say will laugh
When thou art gone, tho solemn brood Of care
Plod %, and each Oue rs befHe will chase
His fAvodte phantom; yet all these shall leave
Their mirth and their snplOymsnts, and shAll
come
And make their bed with thee. As the long train
OF ngAs glide away, the sons Of men,
The youth 10 lies green spripg, and he who goes
In the full strength Of years, matron and mAid,
And the sweet babe, and the gray.head,d man
Shall one by one be gathered 10 Thy AIDE,
By thuse, who In their turn shall follow them.
SO live, that when thy summon comes TO Join
The innumerable cIrayan, which moves
To the mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber In the silent halls Of death;
Thou 70 not, like the quarry-JlAys al night,
seouBed TO his dungeon, but, sustained and
soothed
BIZ an unfalteriug trust, approach thy grave,
Like one who wnps the dnpery Of bis couch =
About him and lies down 10 pleasant dreams.
VILLAS CULLEN BRYANT.