The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1907-01-11
THE CLOSING YEAR
GRO. d. PRsNr1cE IN wAsu,Ncron CO. !,

GEo. d. PRENTICE IN WAsHrNcroN srAp
It's the Midn1iight's holy hour, and silence now
as proouing, like a gentle spirit, DER
In, Inc stu! and pulse1ess world. Hank on tl,e w,,5s
dne bells deep notes are swelling. Ills tho kneil
VI the departed year. -"
No funeral lrain
With Y itM1 melnsc Rssi,; l yst on tb the m s,ream and wood.
Ike a pale, spotless stroud; the air is stirred.
AS by q mourner's sigh, and on yon cloud,
miiat floats so still and placidly through heaven
Inc spirits OF the seem to stand
Aud Hpdihg, bright Summer, Autunin's solemn form
In iiorrnml cadences, that come abroad
Like the far wind -larps wild and touching vail
zone from the earth forever.
Ills a time
For memory and for tears. Within the deer.
Still chambers of the heart a specter dim,
whose tones are like the wizard voice of time,
Heard from the tomb of ages, points it's cold
And solemn finger to fhe beautiful
AND holy visions that have passed away
And left no shadow of their loneliness
On the dead waste of life. That specter lift
The coffin lid of hope and JOY and love,
And bending mournfully above the pale
Sweet forms that slu1nber there, scatter dead flowers
Ger what has passed to nothingness.
Has gone, ard 18th it many a glorious throng
OF happy dreams. It's mark is on each brow,
It's shadow i'll each heart. In its swift course
1t waved its scepter Ger the beautiful
And they are not. 1t laid its pallid hand
Upon the strong man, and the naughty form
Is fallen, and the flashing eye is dim.
1t trod the hall of rcvelry, where tfronged
The bright and joyous, and the fearful wall
or stricken ones is heard, where est the song
And reckless shout resounded. 1t passed DER
The battle plain, where sword and spear and shield
FLASHED in the light of ~midday-and the strength
OF serted hosts is shivered, and the grass,
Green from the soil of carnage, waves above
The crushed and Wondering skeleton. 1t came
And faded like a wreath of mist at eve
Yot, eve it melted in the viewless air,
1t heralded its its millions to their home
In the dim land of dreams.
Relnorseless Time =
t1erCe spirit OF the glass and SCythe !-Wlat power
Can stay him III his silent course, or melt
His iron heart to pity? On still OH
He presses and forever. The proud bird,
The condor of the Andes, that can soar
Through heavens urfathomable depths, or brave
The fury of the northern hurricane
And bath his plurlage III the thuIder's home,
Furls his broad wings at nightfall and sinks down
To rest upon his mountain crak-but Time
Knows not the weight of sleep or WEAKNESS,
And nights deep darkness has no chain to bind
His rushing pinions. Revolutions sweep
Der earth like troubled visions DER the breast
OF dereaming sorrow cities rise and sink
Like bubbles OH the water fiery isles
Spring, blazing from the ocean, and go back
To their mysterious cavcrns mountains rear
To heaven their bald and blackened cliffs and bow
Their tall heads to the plain new empires rise,
Gathering the strength of hoary centuries,
And rush down like the Apino avalancc,
Startling the nations and the very stars,
You bright and burning blazonry Of God,
Glitter awhile i'll their eternal depths,
And, like the Pleiad, lQveliest of their train,
Shoot from their glorious spheres, and pass away,
TO darkle i'll the trackless void yet Time,
Time, the tomb-builder, holds his fierce career,
Dark, stern, all pitiless, and pauscs not
Amid the mighty wrecks that strcw his path, :.
To sit and muse, like other conqucrers,
Upon the fearful ruin lie has wrought.