If Chance awaked, inexorable power! Cease every joy to glimmer on my mind, But leave - oh! leave the light of Hope behind! What though my wingéd hours of bliss have been, Like angel-visits, few, and far between! Her musing mood shall every pang appease, And charm when pleasures lose the power to please! . . . . When, 'reft of all, yon widowed sire appears Say, can the world one joyous thought bestow Cold in the dust this perished heart may lie, Shall beam on Joy's interminable years, Unveiled by darkness unassuaged by tears! Inspiring thought of rapture yet to be, By artless friendship blessed when life was new? Eternal Hope! when yonder spheres sublime Pealed their first notes to sound the march of Time, Thy joyous youth began but not to fade. When all the sister planets have decayed; When wrapt in fire the realms of ether glow, And Heaven's last thunder shakes the world below; Thou, undismayed shalt o'er the ruins smile, And light thy torch at Nature's funeral pile! Epes Sargent. MOUNT HOPE. ODE DELIVERED AT THE CONSECRATION OF THE CEMETERY OF MOUNT HOPE, NEAR BOSTON. Not in this green retreat However beautiful, while Summer launches Her odors and soft airs through swaying branches ; Though wild flowers court our feet, And though the wild birds capture The listening sense with their melodious rapture, Not here, not here, my friends, Let us believe the loved one shall repose, Or that life's true receptacle descends To the dark mould, where sods above it close, And the immortal with the mortal blends! Let not despair or sensual distrust Confound this mouldering dust With the true person - with the inner form, No warrant for despair! Not here, my soul, not for one moment here, One tender recollection, One deed of goodness in seclusion wrought, As water rises to its fountain-head, We give the infant, who to walk is learning, mer; corks to the doubtful swim So are these bodies, for our brief sojourning, Helps to us here, while schooled in being's primer. For here, in God's stupendous seminary, What various lore the thoughtful eye engages! Where were the joy, the power, the benefaction Of toil, and faith, and prayer, our spirits moulding? Where were the innocence, without temptation? Where, without freedom, were the self-denial ? Where were the goal, the triumph, the salvation, If then the Saviour's promise and example Let us not say, however fair the breast Of the green hill-side, where the graves are made, "Here the beloved ones rest! "Here in this forest shade! Distant, and yet how near ! Where kindred spirits kindred joys pursue, In duties ever dear, Surprises ever new, They range from sphere to sphere Through all the fresh delights of God's eternal year! Nor are their human ties forgotten quite : With the strong will to see friends left behind Cometh a might Swifter than light, And they are here, though viewless as the wind; With privilege, at times, to interpose Between us and our woes. Since it is gain ineffable, to die Unto the mortal eye, |