The Opelousas courier., 1888-02-11
WE ALWAYS WAIT.

WE ALWAYS WAIT.
We always wait, the promise unfulflled;
The spring, the summer, this haryests we
may see;
But never from the cradle to the grave,
70 any thought, however strong and brave,
Shall full f%ruftion be.
: The child would snatch a bauble Of the
moon.
The yoush, the ecstasy of love that leagues
with fate;
Manhood, dominion that is lost SO soon,
And age, the trembling shadows at the gate:
For hope grows weary of the solemn noon,
Wherein we always wait.
Behold the sodden fields, now newly sown;
And there the husbandman with anxious
creS,
Watching the winl and rain, in hope and
fear,
Till summer smiles, or blight and rust ap.
pear;
Where all the venture of his harvest lies.
The clouds are auguries OF dread to him,
The sun O laggard, or the rains are late;
The wind shall sometimes soothe him with
a hymn;
The spectral fog shall be a thing of fate;
For hope, the twilight of the soul, grows
dim,
Wherein we always wait.
o patient optimist-a smile or tear,
Are honest kin, they spring SO near to-
gether.
No man hath ever lived all satisfied,
No human heart that is not sometimes tried
By leak, u~nfriendly weather.
There never was full measure of content,
Even to him most blest and nuFsed of fate;
The morrow brings its hazard for us all
Some one demand oboli at the gate,
Whereat sit Hope and Fear, who sadly cali
The souls that ALWAYS wait.
Not one is found to thwart the dead Parca,
Nor stay the ravel of the CHASTITY thread;
Nor birth, nor PRIDE nor wealth, nor wit can
Escape or Soinpromise with destiny;
The surge betwixt the living and the dead !!
o., Sapfent sage, o, orator sublime,
Poet and priest, It's idle here to pirate,
OF latent will, of creeds that mock at
time
Man is but man, whether he fall or cline;
He waits; aye, he must always wait.
Must wait for what ? the doubt, the great
beyond -
The new to-day. tomorrow will be old;
All human empire soon is desolate.
Decay and change, with sure, u~nfiagging gait,
Trample heroic dust and peasant mould
The myth Of Kings Republics what are
But vague Ambition plating Gods estate!
No man hath warranty for aught-abreath
Will cancel legacies of love or hate,
VIII watt his latest title deeds to Death,
On whom we always wait.
lis much to flutter on the broad highways,
And boast cur opulence in wit n art;
To clothe in golden grandeur that which
dies r
Man only owns the moment he enjoys,
& In all life comedy, a single part
The splendid scenery ofSeas and stars,
The gorgeous Cosmos girding him with state;
And all the costly tappings loaned OF time,
Leave hin at last alone and desolate,
Within the vestibule where all men go,
Alas /! and always wait.
One fam must laugh-perhaps 'tw2re best to
When some poor soul, a leader in the van,
Aspires by ethics or some covert claim,
To win himself q precedence in name,
And chant heroics Ger his brother man,
Be he high priest or Fortunes parasite,
Or plumel by circumstance (nen call him
2 great
Orplaeid, smiling mediocrity,
Here all must meet and jostle at the gate
OF that cold house where we in company
The pl~ayers-always wait!
We always waiJ-our work is never done,
Ouf NVe5 are ltlIt Oh all talngS
The sun, the re.in alike for every one,
May yet find garaensln our hearts begun,
To bloom or witler in the summers heat.
Tho flowers of Love and Hope may blossom
soon,
Or only ripen YEARLY and late;
The planet Peace must be our harvest
moon g
Knowing these things, we find no fault with
fateA
We enter door where love is still attLne,
Wherein we always wait.
Alas! some summers I have called my own,
Some scenes, some marvels of great lakes
and woods:
The thrilling paeans of the ocean sent
BY starry pathways through the armament,
These and the like were mine in the ancient
moods
Here was no smell of parchment, dog-eared
books,
Nor wiles Of mortgags1pse. Of ipawned
estate:
But by the mighty legaces of God.
Each plant that bloomed, each flower tH 1
blessed the sod, !.
Shared my inheritance with q friendly mo- :
Making sweet murmurs, saying nothing
loath,
1.-THE earth is the Lords and the ful11$ss
thereof, n i
Wherein We always wait.
John 4atvobus, IN the Minneapolis SStr.
LF &E IL 49,