The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1882-12-30
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THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR.
BY GEORGE d. PRENTICE.

Comet Gone for ever Like rushing wave
4 Another wear has burst upon the shore
IOroortbly being-and its last low tones,
1vordering in broken accents on the air,
And diving to an echo.
The gay spring
,vitb its Young charms has gone gone with II;
leaves,
1ts atmosphere of roses, It's white clouds
s1umbering like seraphs in the air-lts plros
RAILING their loves in music, and lis streams
/ Gaming and shouting, from the up-piled rocks
10 make earth echo with the joy OF waves
And summer with its dews and showers mas gohe'
ITS rainbows glowing in the distant CLOUDS
r ike spirits of the storm-its peaceful lakes
iIino in their sweet sleep, as if their dreams
Were of the opening flowers and budoihg trees
nd ovorhanging sky-and its bright mists
Resting upon the mountain tops as cro"hs
tJpon the heads of giants. Autumn too'
Has poneI With all its deeper glories gone.
slyith its green hills like altars of the world
n ;ri,, their rich fruit offerings to their God.
Its cool winds strayfng mid the forest aisles
To wake the thousand wind harps; its serene
And holy sunsets hanging DER the West,
ike banners from the battlements OF heaven
And its still evenings-when the moonllt sea
Uas over throbbing-like the living heart
M the great universe. All, these are now
Rut sounds and visions of the past-the deep
wild beauty has departed from the eartn
And they are gathered to the embrace oi uea'"
Their solemn herald to eternity.
Nor have they gone alone. High human hearts
ornossions have gone with them. The fresh dust
u chill on many a breast that burned erewhile
NJ eros that seemed immortal. joys that leaped
d ike angels from the heart, and wandered free
In this Young morn, to look upon the ho"ers'
The poetry of nature, and to list
The woven sounds of breeze and bird ana stream
4rnon the night air have been stricken down
In silence to the dust Exultant Hope
That roved forever on the buoyant wlnos
Like the bright starry bird of Paradise
And chanted to the ever listing heart
In the wild music of a thousand tongues
or scared into the open sky until
Nights burning gems seemed jewelcd on her Dro"'
Has shut her dropping wings and made her house
Within the voiceless sepulcher. And Love,
That knelt at PASSIONS holiest shrine and gazed
On his hearts idol on some sweet star
Whose purity and distance made it dear,
And dreamed of ecstacies, until his soul
Seemed but a Tyre, that wakened in the glance
OF the beloved one, he too has gone
To his eternal resting place. And where
Js stern Ambition? He who madly grasped
AT Glory's ieeting phantom, he who sought
His fame upon the battlefield, and longed
10 make throne pyramid of bones
Aud a sea of blood He too has gone!
His stormy voice is mute-his mighty arm
Is ncrvcless on its clod. his very name
Is but a meteor of the night of year
Whose CLEAN flashed out nome mt DER the earth
And faded into nothingness. The dream
Ofhigh devotion, Beauty's bright array,
And life's deep idol memories all have passed
Like the cloud shadows on star-lit stream
Or stream of soft music, when the winds
Are slumbering on the billow.
Yet why muse
l,pon the past with sorrow? Though the year
HAS gone to blend with the mysterious tide
Of old Eternity, and borne along
l'pon its heavng breast a thousand wrecks
Of glory and of beauty. Yet, why mourn
That such is destiny? Another year
Succeedeth to the past. In their bright round
The seasons come and go; the same blue arch
That hath hung Ter US will hang DER us yet,
The same pure stars that we have loved to watch
Will blossom still at twilight's gentle hour.
Like lilies on the tomb of day, and still
Man will remain to dream as he hath dreamed,
And mark the earth with passion. Love will spring
From the lone tomb o fold affections. Hope
AS they have risen, and their deeds will be
Brighter than those engraven on the scroll
Of past centuries. Even now the sea
of coming years, beneath whose mighty waves
Iife's great events are heaving into birth,
Is tossing to and fro, as if the winds
OF heaven were prisoned in its soundless depths,
And struggling to be free.
Weep not that time
pra will long reveal
"A brighter era to the nations. Hark!
Along the wales and mountains of the earth
There is a deep portentouS murmuring,
Like the swift rush of subterranean streams
Or like the mingled sounds of earth and air,
When the fierce tempest with sonorous wing
lIeaves his deep folds upon the rushing winds
And hurries onward, with the might of clouds
against the eternal mountains IT'S the voice
Ofinfant Freedom, and her stirring call
lS heard and answered in q thousand tones.
From every hill l-top of her Western home,
sAnd lott breaks across old oceans flood,
And Freedom! Freedom is the answering shout
or nations starting from the spell of years.
The dayspring-see-'tis Frightening in the heavens
The watchmen of the night have caught the sign.
From tower to tower the signal fires flash free.
And the deep watchword like the rush of seas,
That heralds the volcanoes bursting fame
j. sounding o er the earth. Bright years of Hope
And life on the wing. You glorious bow
of Freedom bended by the hand ofGod,
Is spanning Times dark sarges. Its high arch
a type of Love and Mercy-on the clouds
Tells that the many storms of human life
will pass in silence; and the sinking waves
Gathering the forms of glory and peace
Reflect the undmmed brightness of the heavens