Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1879-12-13
Star girt and vergcd with shimmering light;

With icy hands. had smotc the many forms
OF beauty, erst displayed in veriure, bloom.
And crowniDg fruit, and wItherlng without
ruth,
Had left the memory only, or the hope.
And yet, It's but pause in natures pulse,
Where life lives on, unseen, un;elt. unheard,-
As M the palIses oil II symphony
Unuttered music fills the listening soul.
And what is night? But earlh's own shadow,
cast
On ether by the sun, that she may see.
If pure her airs, the heavens wherein she moves,
Erst hidden by the blue opaque OF day.
Another deep significance hath night:
Arouni Iar-ranging, sweeps her slender cone.
Traversiny, like an index tn ambient heavens,
And star by star, forever telling time,
Forever pointing towards the Infinite.
And death 'Tis but the winter of the soul,
Wherein her germ OF immortality
May gather strength and beauty for the spring.
That endeth not, e'en in the endless summer.
O'er all the forms OF matter hath he power,
That life may multiply Z iniinity;
But DER their essence Or,thelr elements -
He power hath none; for these instinct with life
Imp rlShible make nature what she ls-
Fit body to report the deity
To human sense. In proof whereof, behold
The vernal resurrection Of the flowers.
Tn aulumnal ripeninS OF uniailing fruits,
Which lend their forms. that from their ele-
msntS
May spring the higher life, revealed in thought,
Sensation, motion-man, the Microcosm
Then death is change, and change is life and lie
And change and uealh are one, and God in all.
Darker and darker sink the shades of earth;
Brighter and brighter rise the lights OF heaven:
O. blest. sublime Apocalypse of night,
Thatdot unfold in wider, higher view
Than day the wonders Oi the brighter sphere,
More wonders infinite wisdom to attest
Blest compensation. proof how love divine
Spangles with glory clouds of SOmbfest hue!
BlesL reinsurance, that In the universe
There's nothing lost. though lost To human ken
Eternity. Pensylla, then. is ours,
tt,,st morn
More excellent, more fair, what we have lost,
Amid the shadows of this dim sojourn,
Oijoy, or love, or hope, or thing OF beauty
Sy Iale to opportunity adverse,
Or wise Withholding of just heaven. In sign
Whereof, ste, on her ebon towers that mark
Her e ,stern goal, night hang her lesser orb,
Clear beaming. as th' Evangel's shield Of faith.
In that, on her responsive disc is seen
The reflex glory OF the ruling orb
Unseen, which else TO earth might seem us lost.
Nor in the realms of air alone is all
This glory spent:-the snowy plains Of earth.
Her frosty woods and hOary-heuded hills,
Her frozen lakes and icy-crystal veins
Clint wan solemn splendOr, like the smile
That sometimes, after death hath fixed his seal,
Comes o'er the faces OF the sainted dead,
AS If the diseInbOdied spirit poised
On viewlcss wings, were lowering near, to cast,
Ere fnal parting, on the haunt fOrsakrn
Some feeble ,;.am, the pledge OF light beyond,
Wherein all mortal soil Is purged away.
Anu immortality's pure robes put on.
Then, to the spirits perception unsuffered.
Death, the portentious phantom that appalls
The carnai sense OF them, who only see
The shadow cast. and not the light ODscured,
!s but usher at the vcstibue
Of real life, opening its lucid ports
No more than TO admit the disenthralled.
Lest mortals, spying the radiant heights beyond,
Grow weary OF this glimmerlng vale, and hence,
Perforce, betake them. ere his summons come.
pAwNING GLIMPsES OF IMMORTALITY.
Morn. noon. even. n'ghI;-aday, year-a life !:
What neA,2 An, Another day Anathsr ,sI year?
For that. let faith. Watchman, what Of the
Night?
Beacon my wutc-tower in the sky. Return;
Abide III faith; in him who came from Hades,
His garments red with blood. He came, he
went;
Again he came and went; again shall come,
His garments white with light; but. go no more
Whence. whittier, to what end, and how, his
Attests; let that suffice; what need we moreG
Our Morning Star he shines, It'll We to light
May grow Injured; when God, our Sun, 81 all
shine,
That ne'er / ath ceased to shine. ard shine for
ever.
Then, Soul immortal mine, give thee joy,
AS come from God, and thither TO return
In some appointed order, when the years
& And seasons. me measuring @ ont. IN mystic dance
Thy Morn of victory risen, ana worthiness
To be all glori1ied with some small beam
| OF glory-e'en the glory OF Him that gave thee.
flame. thou art. sprung from th' Eternal Sun,
Casting thy shade in His all-glorlous sheen;
AS fire, that burning in the sunshine. casts
| Its shadows on the ground,-light breaking
Breaking the less, as clearer burns the blaze
Then, Soul of Mine, burn clear; nor self
Nor aught eclipsing. break that light divine
From falling In its beauty, strength and joy
On aught that lives-Or man, or bird, or beast
| Come not bctw cen that blessing and their need
Lest it from thee forever be withdrawn;
| But in, and through thy being let it shine.
| AS shines the sun In heavens bow-listea cloud
And through the sstoried window richly drift,
| Where light is only varied to reveal
How manifold its forms OF beauty are.
AS darkness is but interrupted light.
Evil may be but interrupted good:
Then, Soul Of mine, burn clear; purge from
All that may thwart or blur that goodly light,
That they, IN fieshly dungeons. may behold
Through thee, as through window open t
How the Great snn ls shining on us all
How lovingly. how beautifully shining,
Till He may count thee worthy to be called
The express image OF His glory.
Meantime, whats'er befall, abide in faith:
The pains and sorrows, that affiict thy being
Are but the shadow of Gods Providence
BY the great Sun of Wisdom Gust thereon.
When thoughts, like these, trouble my Spirit
Far glmpses of the shining Infinite
Break through the dawn of my incipient being
And for a space light up its mystic shades
With glory unspeakabe; the Infinite
In love, the Infinite in harmony
la truth, power, time; in beauty. wisdom, good
And when gone glimmering through the drea
! abyss,
They leave me. once more wandering up an
. down,
Lost IN the mazes of my destiny.
watchman, what of the niights The Moruin
! Begins to pale. as from before th' advance
OF SOVEREIGN Glory. the starry eye OF taven,
Whose guiding glances, erring never. led
The trembling wanderer through the perilol
night,
Their blue lids soon shall close before the Eye
, That closes never, and the Moon. erewhIe;
Bright as the shield of faith, shall cease, er,
long,
To be the evidence OF light not seen.
Abide in faith; the Morning surely cometh.
| To him, who, with due reverence. fain wou
know
All knowledge, fain would reach all exeellenc
The consolidated slorles OF the heavens
l Boast not 4 meaningless mugniiicenee,
But are the fiery hicroglyphs OF God
Traced on the Infinite blue scroll. to spell
The awful mysteries OF eiernity;
To solve the mighty problem, star by star,
S System by system oil high Destiny;
Which never solved, yet solving ever, spread
Advances rises, brightens, grows in stI Ienyth
Approaching ever, reaching never, God,
MORRISON HEADY