Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-12-31


The still ami pulseles world. Hark on the
winds,
The beil,s deep tones are swelling; tits the
kneli
OF the departed year.
Nc iuuersi trsin
Is sweeping part; yet on tire stream and wood,
With melancholy light the moonbea ,ns rest
Like p.ie, spuiiess silrnul; ths air is stirred
AS by mourner's sigh aud. on !on cloud,
That floats sos.iil and placldly through heav.
en-,
The spirit of tie Seasons ssen to stand
Young Spring, bright Summer, AutGrnn's SOL
emn form,
And Winter, with hia aged lock ard brea.he
In mournfu cadences that come abroad
Like tie far wind-harp's wife and touching
vail
melancholy tirge o'ee he dead yesr,
Gore from !he earth forever.
TITS a time
For memory and fol teerl. within the deep,
still chambers OF tha II art. e specter dim,
Whose tors are ike the wizard voice of Time
Heard from the tosnh of ages, points its cold
And snlennn finger tn the beautiful
And holy visions. that have passed away,
Ii
On the tesd waste o: lif.. Tns, srec;er lifts
rhe coffln-ii Il: IF Rope and joy. and Love,
And, benGina ialou nttlliJ :.oots the pale,
Sweet .crtos thai siumber there, .oattars dead
flowers
Ger what has pa -eai to noliiingnc2s.
Has gone. aad with 1t. na9y glorious throng
Of happy dreams. Its mark is on each brow,
Its shadow in each heart In Its swift course
1t waved its scepter o'er the beautiful.
And they are not. 1t laid its pallfd hand
Upon the strong man and the naughty form
Is fallen, and the flashing eye is dim.
1t trod the hall of revelry, where thronged
The bright and joyous and the fearful wall
Of sfrick en- ones is heard, where erst the song
And reckless shout resounded. 1t passed DER
The battle plain, where sword, and spear and
shield
Flashed in the light of midday; and the
strength
Ofserried hosts is shivered. and the grass,
Green from the soil OF carnage. waveabove
The crushed and moldering skeleton. Itcame,
And faded like wreath of mist at eve;
Yet, ere it melted in the viewless air,
1t heralded It's millions to their home
In the dim land of dreams.
Remorseless Time !
Fierce spiritof the glass and scyths-what pow
Can stay him in his silent course. or melt
His iron heart to piGy! On. still on
He presses, and forever. The proud bird.
The condor of the Andes, that can soar
Through heavens unfathomable depths, or
This fIlry Of tha northern hurricane
And bathe his plumage in the thunders home
Furs his broad wings at night fall, and sinks
down
To rest upon his mountain erag but Time
Knows not the weight ef sleep or eariness;
And nights deep dark has no chain to
His rushing pinion.
Revolutions sweep
Ger the earth, like troubled visions DER the
breast
OF dreaming sorrow cities rise and sink
Like bubbles on the water; fiery isles
Spring blazing from the ocean, and go back
To their mysterious caverns; mountains rear
To heaven their bald and blackened cliffs, and
Their tall heads to the plain; new empires rise
Gathering the strength Of hoary centuries,
And rush down, like the Alpine avalanche,
Startling the nations; and the very stars.
Yon bright and burning blazonry of God,
Glitter awhile in their eternal depths,
And, like the Pleiad, loveliest of their train.
Shoot from their glorious spheres, and pass
away,
To darkle in the trackless void; yet Time.
Time the tomb. builder, holds his fierce career,
Dark, stern. all pitiless and pauses not
Amid tho mighty wrecks that strew his path,
To sit and muse like other conquerors.
Upon the fearful ruin he has wrought.