Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1886-08-25
ALPENA WEEKLY ARGUS.
MISCELLANEOUS
THE CLAY CHERUB.

what IL Immortal7 Dreamers speak OF love
OUTLYING mortal breath,
fnd conaucring fate and circumstance and
death;
And wise men preach. nnL poets sing in
or faith and fame which years can not dis
And hope which laugh, at time.
And yet tho veriest tribes oft outlast
All these and leave them in the misty past,
Proving how empty Is their boast above
silkon shred, n Hover. or faded glove
He took a piece OF potter's earth ono day
My friend. remembered still
And, with an artists ready craft md skill,
IAshiAncd for mo a little chcrub-face.
a. as said, "Why make or brittle clay
A thing Of so much grace,
80 beautiful aud SWEEP and dn nty fnirf
Its lines will yield TO the eiaclng air
Their delicate curving, shield IL ns may,
And dry aud crumblc, grain by grain, away.
The brows were bent ms IN wondering
dream,
Half Joy and half surprise;
Tho gentle lids closed over sleeping eyes;
The tender lips just parted In smile
SO sweet and life.lke II would almost seem
That, In n little while.
IL would awaken, laughing, from It's rest;
And quietly across the baby breast,
Which slumber's llghtest breathing seemed to
Two angel wings were folded, sol; and still.
lie smiled, and touched the rounded cheek of
clay,
And gravcly said To mo:
"This little face You prize so tendcrly
Holds in itself no element of change,
No germ of dissolution or decay;
And it would not lie strange
IL, In so kind ana loving hands as yours,
IL lasts for years, and even still endurcs
When much that you and !, dear child, to-
day
Believe immortal, shall have passed away"
How truly did he speak Deaths zeal was
set
Even then upon his face,
Though love refused to see its fatal trace:
And, though the world was fur with light and
bloom,
There lay a shade of doom.
Long since their earnest depths forgot tho
light;
but, wrapped in happy sleep and visions
Unchanged by time. unshadowed by regret,
The little chcrub face is perfect yet
The hand which lowered with life marble
bus,
And caught a marvellous ray
OF beauty In this worthless clay;
That wrought out power and passion from
Called smiles from cold Corraras prisonin9
crust,
BY skil,fu touch alone;
Awakened love- est dimplcs i'm cheek
Rockhcwn, and made the carved lip almost
speak
Forgot IFS cunning, and returned TO dust.
In tho true heart that loved him. even vet
The wild and frantic grief,
Which long rejected solacc and relief.
Has only changed to fixed and silent pain;
And every spring-time when the violet
Wakes TO the moving rain
While tho glad birds build, and the new leaves
grow.
And the brooks slng-its blossom sweet and
low
Keeps vigil by his rest. with blue eye wet,
Like one who waits and never will forgot.
What has II not outlivcd and put to shame,
Outlnstng their decay,
The little fragment OF untempcrcd clay9
Youth, love, and all that makes existence
dear:
LIES brightest dreams-an artists dawning
fame,
A woman's hope and fear,
a childs sweet life, that promised 10 atOno
For ycFrs of toll and WOO endured alone
Faith strong reliance, friendships steadicst
flame
And yet the clay.wrought face remains the
same.
Wherefore II seems these trines, which VIC
Nero nothngs of day.
Last whom our soul's best treasures pass
away;
Beside the life time of book -prcssc flower.
Loves fond forever dwindles brief and
small,
And fame Is for an hour;
joys promise fades before roses red,
And clay ondurcs when youth and hope are
dcnd;
Shadows outlast our trust, ms years bcfall,
Bnt humnn sorrow long outlves them ALL
-EHzdbeth Ahers, IN ". j. Independent.