The Cecil Whig., 1880-09-11
SELECT POETRY.
THE FLOOD OF YEARS.
by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

Pours forth the never-ending Flood of Years
Among the nations. How the rushing waves
Bear all before them. On their foremost edge,
And there alone. is Life: the Present there
ToSScS and loans and fills the air with roar
Of mingled noises. There are they who toll.
And they who strive. and they who feast and they
Who hurry to and fro. The sturdy hind
| Woodman and deliver with the spadc-are there
And busy artisan beside his bench
And palld student with his written roll.
\ moment on the mounting billow seen
The Hood sweeps over them and they gone.
| There groups of reveers. whose brows are twincd
| With roses. ride the topmost swell awhile.
And as they raise their flowing cups to touch
The clinking brim to hrim, are whrled beneath
The waves and disappear. hear the jar
of beaten drums, and thunders that break forth
From cannon. where the advancing billow sends
| Up to the sight long files of armed men.
That hurry to the charge through flame and smoke
| The torrent bears them under. whelmed and hid
Slayer and slain. in heaps of bloody foam
| Down go the stecd and rider: the plumed chief
Sinks with his followers: the head that wears
The imperial diadem goes down beside
The felon's with cropped ear and branded check
| y funeral train the torrent sweeps away,
| Bearers and bier and mourners. BY the bed
| OF one who dies men gather sOrrowng
And women weep aloud: the floods roll on:
The wall is stifed. and the sobbiny group
Borne under. Hark to that shrill. sudden shout
The cry of an applauding multitude
Swayed by some loud-tongued orator who welLs
| The living mass as if he were its soul
The waters choke the shout and all is still.
| I4o. next. Il kneelng crowd and one VINO spreads
The hands in prayer: the engulting wave o'ertakcs
And swallows them and him. A sculptor wieds
The chisel and the stricken marble grows
To beauty: at his easel, eager-eycd,
A painter stands and sunshine at his touch
Gathers upon the canvas and life glows:
| A poet. as he PAGES to and fro.
| Murlnurs 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 wrests it from her arms she shrieks
| And weeps. and midst her tears is carried down
| a beam like that of moonlight turns the spray
| To glistening pearls two lovers hand in hand
Rise on the billowy swell and ondly look
| Into each others eyes. The rushing food
| Filings them apart: the youth goes down the maid
With hands outstretched in vain. and streaming
| eyes.
| Waits for the next high wave to follow him.
| An aged man succeeds his bending form
Sinks slowly: minging with the sullen stream
| Clean the white locks and then are seen no more
Lo, wider grows the stream: sca-like food
Saps earth's walled cities massive palaces
| Crumblc before it forresSes and towers
Dissolve in the swift waters: populous realms
| swept by the torrent. see their ancient tribes
| Ensuicd and lost. their very languages
| Stited and never to be uttered more.
pause and turn my eyes, and, looking back,
| Where that tumultuous flood has passed l see
| The silent Ocean of the Past, waste
OF waters weltering over graves its shores
Strewn with the wreck of fleets. where mast and
| hull
Drop away pccencal: battlcmemted walls
Frown idly, green with moss. and temples stand
| Unrooicd. iorsakcn by the worshipers.
| There lie memorial stones. whence time has snaw ed
the craven legends, thrones of kings o'erturned.
| The broken affairs Of forgotten gods
| Foundations of old cities and long streets
| Where never fall of human foot is heard
| Upon the desolate pavement. l behold
| Dim glmmcrngs of lost Jewels far within
| The sleeping waters diamond. sardonyN
| Ruby and topaz, pearl and chrysolite,
| Once slttcring at the banquet fair brows
That long ago were dust and all around,
Strcwn on the waters of that silent sea-
| Are withering bridal wreaths. and glossy locks
Shorn from fair brows hv loving hands, and scrolls
| O'erwritten-haply with fond words of love
| And vows of lriendship-and fair pages flung
| ''' Wv i''"'' i"'i' INV! ''
"A i'''''eN' an" ''''i' i'N away HUN s's"''
| | look and the uuick tears are in nv ewes
For behold in every one of tbcs.
| A blighted hope a separate history
| OF human sorrow telling of dear ties
Suddenly broken dreams of happness
Dissolved in mir and happy days too brief
| How painfully the poor heart must have beat
| In bosoms without number. as the blow
| Was struck that slew their hope or broke their
peace.
|
| Sadly turn, ana looh before "herey yet
Inc h"oh must pass. ana pehoid hist
where SWARM uiSso'ihs iorms' tie orooa "i hope
| bNihe'S Hit, ''''' res' Oh pihhs vi ho"efs
VT "ahuer anoh" rahpo"s' Eia'hS sooh
ANA rcaPpeariils, haplE giving place
| 10 shapes oi "rsiy aspect such as Fear
Niouios nom 'iie i"ie ar "here seiPehls i'''
Inc he''u u S'riAe' an" sAeie'ois streteh 'orth
ii' o''s I'M ' e' vi '''i o'i
'''' vi val se''''' W o''i ''ie way
| L'n.' low anu o's''ii''' "heie Lie 'hdt Il
io'''heH 'e i-''e W N""e' he + loou vi ic"iS
I>oliS '""iird IL, near anu nearer. II must pass
| mat dismal barrier. WHAT Is there beyond: