The Columbus journal., 1882-08-16
BEFORE THE UR
I839-l8S2.

h. Ises-lsss.
The stars are out-fun we'll We know
The nurse is on the stair,
With hand of ice and cheek of snow.
And frozen lips a whisper low,
. Come, children. IL Is time to go
Ny peaceful couch to share"
No years a wakeful heart can tire;
Not bed time yet! Come, stir the fro
And warm our dear old hands;
Kind mother earth We love so well
Has pleasant stories yet to tell
Before we hear the curfew bell;
Eli glow the burning brandA
Hot bed time yet! We long to know
n wonders time has yet to show,
What unborn years shall bring;
What ship the Arctic pole shall reach,
What lessons Science waits to teach.
What sermons there are left to preach,
What poems vet TO sing.
Whit next7 we ask; and is it r u
The sunshine falls on nothing new,
As lsfael's King declared
was ocean plOUghed with Eafnessed nroS
Did Tarshish telegraph to Tyre?
How Hiram would have stared!
And What If sheba's curious Queen,
Who came TO ee-an 70 be seen
Nor somothing new to seek,
And as ladies sometimes de.
At sight that thrilled her through and
through,
Had heard, Is she was coming to,
A~locornotive's shrek,
And seen . rushing railway train
- ahe hooked out along the plain
Prom Dayid's hpfty tower
A milc at smoke that bkots the sky
d bhnds the eagles rs they fly
behind the ears that thunder by
score Of leagues an hour
Bee 10 my ~ sxz respond
3his little slumbertng fire tipped wand
One tOUch-t busts in fiarnei
0teal me q portrait from the sun
One loOk-aEd 10! the picture dOnei o
Are these old tricks, King Solomon.
We lying moderns claim3
Could you have ~spectroscoped a start
II both those mothers at YOUR bar.
The cruel ana the mild,
Tn young and tender. old and tough,
Had said, "Df~vide-you're right. Though
rough
Dsd old Judea know enough
To etherize the child?
These births of time our eyes have seen,
With but a few brief years between: .
What wonder If the text.
For other Ages doubtless true,
For coming years will never do
Whereof We all hould like q few
II but to see what next.
II sueh things ave been. such may be;
Who would not like to live and sec
IL Heaven may so ordain-
What waits undreamed OF, yet in store,
Tit waves that roll fOrevermOre
On hfe's long beach may cast ashore
Prom out the mist clad main?
Win earth to pagan dreams return
To find from misery's painted urn
That all save Hope has flown
o. Book and Church and Priest bereft,
fhe Book of Ages vainly cleft,
ANe's compass gone, its anchor left.
Lsft-lost-in depths unknown?
snail Faith the rodden path pursue
Thu cswS 0ssatG wearers knew
Who sleep with folded hands,
Where, like o naked, lidless eve,
Tn Starring Nile rolls wondering by
Those slopes that climb the sky
Above the drifting sands?
Or shall a nobIer Faith return,
Ns flames n purer Gospel learn,
With hOlier anthems ring,
And teach Us that our transient creeds
We're bat the p~erishable seeds
~ haFvests Gown for larger needs
That ripening years b bring?
We'll. let the present do its best.
We trust our Maker for the rest,
A. on our way we plod;
Oor soals. full dressed in fleshly suits,
Love air and sunshine, flowers and fruits,
The daisies better than their roots
Beneath the grassy sod.
Hot bed time yet! the full blown flower
Of all the year-this evening hour
With friendships flame Is bright;
Lie still l. sweet, the heavens are fair,
Though felds are brown and woods are
bare,
And many a Joy is left to share
Before We say Good night
And when, our cheerful evening pact,
The nurse, long waiting, comes at last,
Ire on her lap we lie
In vearied natures sweet repOse,
At peace with all her waking foes,
Our lips shall murmur, ere they close,
Good night! and not Good -byei
-OtSoer Wendell Holmes, IN atlantic Monthly.