Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1890-02-27
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BURNING DRIFT.WOOD.
BY JOHN &. WHITTIER.


BY JOHN G. WHITTIER.
Before my drlfl.wood fire sit,
And sec, with every walf burn
Old dreams and fancics coloring it,
And folly's mlaid ghosts return.
O ships of mine, whose swift keels cleft
The enchanted sea on which they sailed,
Are these poor fragments only left
Of vain desires and hopes that failed
Did not watch from them the light
OF sunset on my towers IN Spain,
And see, far off, uploom in sight
The Happy Isles might not gain?
Did sudden light of fog reveal
ArcaCl,'s wales of song and spring,
And did pass, with grazing keel
The rocks whcrcon the sirens sing?
Have not drifted hard uron
The unmappcd regions lost to man,
The cloud pitched tents Of Preston John,
The palace domcs Of kubla Khan p?
Did land winds blow from jasmin flowers.
Where Youth the agcless Fountain fills
Did Love make sign from rose blown bowers
And gold from Edorado's hills?
Alas tie gallant ships, tina, sailed
On blind adventures errand sent,
Howecr they laid their courses, failed
TO reach the haven of Content,
And ofmy ventures, those alone
Which, Love had fr,ghted, safely sped,
Seeking II good beyond my own,
BY clcar-cyed Duty piIotel
0 Mariners hoping still to meet
The luck Arabian >oyagcrs met,
And find in B,ydads moonlit street
lIaroun al Raschild walking yet.
Take with you, on your Sea of Dreams,
The fair, fond fnncics dear To youth,
l turn from all that only seems.
And seek the sober grounds of truth.
What matter that it is not May,
That brda ha flown, and trees are bare,
That darker grows the shortening day,
And colder blows the wintry air
The wrecks Of pa sion and desire,
The castles no more rebuild,
Nav ti,lv feed M drift wooG fire,
And warm the hands that Gsc has chilled
Whatever persisted with my ships,
only know the best ;cmains;
\ song Of praise is on my lips
For loses which are now my gains.
Heap high my hcar,h. No word is lost;
No wisdom with the folly dies;
Barn on, poor shr,ds, you: holocaust
shall benny evening sacrifice
Far mere than all | dared to dream,
Cnsought before my door see;
On wings Of fire and sterds Of steam
The worlds great wonders come to me.
And holier signs, unmarked before,
| OfLovc to srok and Power to SAVE
The rightns Of The wronged and poor,
| The man evolving from the slave.
And life, no longer chance or fate,
Safe in the gracious Fatherhood
toid DER, wearird hands and wait,
! In calm assurance of the good.
And wei. the waiting time must be,
Tho br LET or loug its granted days,
IfFmith and Hope ana Charity
Sit by my evening hcarli. fires blaze.
And with them, friends whom Heaven has
! sparcd,
/ Whose love my heart has comfortcd,
/ And sharing all my joys, has shared
MY tender memories Of the dead
Dear souls who left us lonely here,
, Bound on their last long voyage, to whom
/ We, day by day, are drawing near,
Where every bark has sailing room.
| knew the solemn monotone
! Of waters calling unto me;
! know from whence the ans have blown
That whisper of the Eternal Sea.
As low my fires ofdrift-wood burn,
] hear that seas deep sounds increase,
And, far in sunsets light discern
Its mirage.lifled Is Is of Peace.