Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1886-02-18
For the SENTINEL
IMMORTAL BEAUTY.
BY NICHOLAS MARAsH.

BY NICHOLAS WABASH.
Oh! where, indeed does constant beauty dwell,
That grand immortal charm which never
fades7
Explore throughout the flower-mantled dell,
Where swaying leaves and proud vibrating
blades,
All dark and green, protect the wooded glades,
And see, alas! how they will fade away
When cherries Falls boar frost again invades
The dell, his whitening touch to rudely lay
Upon the vernal leaves and turn them back
to clay.
See, too, the lofty, jagged, gray-brown cliff,
That towers high in splendid columns steep,
Where mournful winds in waves so cold and
swift
Rush round the rugged craig with mighty
sweep
And hurl sharp spicules down the endless
deep;
Though this stupenduous structure proud,
sublime
For many years may roughly, firmly meet
The ruthless blasts of cold dispensing time,
Yet will, at last, be brought to powder gray
and fine.
Observe the great expanse of ocean deep,
A ripping sheet of waters strangely bright,
Which ebb away from shore, then back to
greet
With angry waves that foam with awful
might
The pearly coast that shines with dazzling
light;
But will the foam crest waves sublimely
grand
Flow in and ebb through time that knows no
right
Or kiss foreverrnore the grains of sand
That All-Wise God has made to form the glist-
ening strand;
Nor does immortal beauty e'er consist
In stately form with willowy grace and fair,
All clad in gaudy folds of feecy swiss
Ger which falls silken threads of golden
hair,
Like flashing spray that sweeps its stone-cut
stair;
For robes of white and forms exquisite, proud
Though fair aud round in Natures watchful
VIII grow pale in death, and exchange
the strand
Of life and rudy health for deaths unpleasing
shroud.
Yet still there is a brawny shapely dome
That rests aloft on mans majestic form;
matchless temple of unpublished bone
The souls rude shield-a shelter rough, tho
With brilliant rays of mind that man adorn;
n Ia hat r;f rxa1
beam
Implanted in the gray-white temple strong.
To light the eye with truth and glow the
mein
With heaven-given lights and soul inspiring
CLEAN.
Within this dome there is a texture frail-
A network of the heart and of the soul,
A gray-white substance neat tho, soft and pale,
A substance rich with gems more bright
than gold,
Which time cannot bedim or dampness mould
| For as the toamlng waves of time rush on,
Like silvery beams and snowy clouds which
roll,
Will ali these gems of mind, as bright as
| morn,
The human casket with immortal beauty
| adorn.
1t is within this bony temple round
| That grand immortal souls expand and
swell,
| And flashing thro' the windows blue or brown
| Send laughing rays, immortal in their spell,
| That darkness from benighted worlds dispell
| From this eternal fountain roll the waves
| That of immortal beauty only tell,
| For deep within the soul and hearts concaves
| The only beauties dwell that pass beyond ptht
| graves.
| Yet, when the wheels of time are staid by rust
| When these frail tenants ofclay release
| Immortal sparks and pass the mother dust,
| When mortal Natures wonderous working
cease,
| Then wilt the souls eternal charms increase
| For with immortal glow they pass the rod
| And pass on thro the ornaments soft fleece,
| As fair and grand path e'er was trod,
From earth up to elysan fields and on to God
| For all that is immortal here on earth
| That steadfast change and time cannot efface,
| Returns, ere long, to God who gave its birth
| Within the pearl gates of His dwelling place,
Where naught but that is pure and bright fine
| space
| But all that is deformed and ugly made
| In heart and soul and brought thro' choice T.
| waste
Mid hellish scenes and rerelry degrade
Departs to him against to souls the first snare
| laid.