The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1885-12-29
THE ORIGINAL sTHANAroPSis."

3It n Interesting 20 know, says the Chi
sAgo Lister Oceoa, that Brysnt's greatest
poem, 'Tbsnssepsis," was not written in
day, but cost the author many years OF
patient pruning and remodeling before il
became perfecs poem. A great poets
srss thoughts, when preserved, are always
Interesting as literary curiosities. Some
emee they may be superior to the matured
kfod1ceao0; rs q rule not This reproduc-
kon OF the draft of the original "Fhana-
bpsis" is well worth preserving to place
nesade that form Of the poem with which
alone the general public Is familiar. The
following was read by DIR. Little at late
meeting OF the Dearborn Circle:
THAHAroPsIs.
Not that from life and all its woes
The hand of death shall set me free;
kot that this head shall then repose
In the low vale most peacefully.
All when touch Times fsrthest brink,
A kinder Solace must attend;
lt chflls my very soul TO think
On that dread hour when life must end.
In vain the fiattering verse may breathe
OF ease from pain and rest from strifei
There is q sacred dread of death
lnwoFen with the strings of life.
Tne bitter cup at first was given
When angry Justine frowned severe.
And it's tn eternal doom of Heaven
fhat man must view the grave with fear.
Yet few days and thee,
The alEbeholding sun shall see no more
10 all his course; nor yet in the cold ground,
Where thy pale form was laid, with many
tears,
Nor in tn embrace of ocean shall exist
Thy image: Earth, that nOurished thee,
shall claim
Thy growth, TO be resolv'd to earth again:
a nd aaalt dFriTR
Thine individual being. shalt thou 20
To mix forever with the elements,
To be brother to tn insensible rock,
And to the sluggish clOd, which the rude
Turns with share and treads upon. The
oak
SHAH send his roots abroad and pierce thy
Yet not to thy eternal resting place
Shall thou retire slone-nor couidst thou
Couch more magnificent.
Thou shalt lie down
With patriarchs OF the infant world, with
The powerful of the earth-the wise, the
Fatx forms and hosry seers of ages past,
All in one mighty sepulchre- The hills,
Rock nbbd and ancient rs the sun-the
in quiet pensveness between
The venerable woods-the foods that move
m6g6SIy-8QO the complaining DfOOkS
fhst wind among the meadS and make them
green,
Are but the solemn decorations, ALL
on the great tomb OF man. The golden sun,
The planets, all the infinite host OF Heaven,
Are glowing on the sad abodes of death
the still lapse of ages. All that
tread
The globe are but handful to the tribes
That siumber in its bosom.
Take the wings
OF morning and the BoreRn desert pierce,
DIR lose thyself in the continuous woods
That veil Oregon, where he hears no sound
Save his own dashings, yet the dead are
there,
And millions in those solitudes. since first
The flight of years began, have laid them
In their last sleep-the dead reign there
alone.
So shalt thou rest, and what if thou shalt
fall
Unnoticed by the living, and no friend
Take note of thy departure? Thousands
more
viii share thy destiny-the titterng world
Dance to the grave. The busy brood of care
Piod Cd, and each one chases as before
His favorite phantom. Yet all these shall
leave
1Neir mirth and their employments, and
shall come
and make their bed with thee!
BY RtlIidnE Cullen Bryant, 1871.