O'er earth thy numbers shall not cease to roll
Till man to live, who to them hearkened;
Thy fame, no less immortal than thy soul,
Shall shine when yon proud sun is darkened.
Thee, now, methinks, I see, O bard divine!
Where ripen no fair joys that are not thine,
And God's full love is pleased on thee to shine,
Still by the heavenly Muses fired,
And starred among the angelic minstrel band,
The sacred lyre thou sway'st with sovereign hand,
While seraphs, in awed rapture, round thee stand,
As one by God himself inspired.
Sublime Beethoven, wizard king of sound,
Once exiled from thy realm, yet not discrowned—
Assist me; since my spirit, thrilling
With thy surpassing strains, is mute, spell bound;
For through the hush of years they still resound,
With music weird my spent ear filling.
When Silence clasped thee in her dismal spell,
And Earth born Music sang her sad farewell;
Thy mighty Genius, as in scorn,
Arose in silent majesty to dwell,
Where from symphonic spheres thou heard'st to swell,
As on celestial breezes borne,
Sounds, scarce by angels heard, e'en in their dreams;
Which, at thy bidding, wrought a thousand themes,
And pouring down in rich pellucid streams,
Filled organ grand and resonant horn;
With rarest sweetness touched each dulcet string,
Made martial bugle and bold clarion ring,
Soft flute provoked like the lone bird of spring,
To warble lays of love forlorn;
Woke shrilly reed to many a pastoral note
Thrilled witching lyre and lips melodious smote,
Till earth, in tuneful ether, seemed to float—
As when first sang the stars of morn!
Till wondering angels were entranced to chime,
With harp and choral tongue, thy strains sublime
And bear thy soul beyond the reach of time,
Heaven's halls harmonious to adorn.
Ah, me! could I with ken angelic, scan
Celestial glories hid from mortal man,
I'd deem this night a day supernal!
Could music, borne from some far singing sphere,
Float sweetly down and thrill my stricken ear,
I'd pray this hush might be eternal!
RESIGNATION.
Pensylla, look! With tremulous points of fire,
The sun, red-sinking lights yon distant spire
O'er leafy hill and blossoming meadows,
Spreads wide and level his departing beams,
Then sinks to rest, as one sure of sweet dreams,
'Mid pillowing clouds and curtaining shadows.
Night draws her lucid shade o'er sky and earth;
Solemn and bright, Heaven's starry eyes look forth;
The evening hymn of praise and song of mirth
Rise gratefully from man's abode.
O, Night! I love her sombre majesty!
'Tis sweet, her double solitude, to me!
Pensylla, leave me now! Alone I'd be
With Darkness, Silence and my God.
O Thou, whose shadow is but light's excess,
The echo of whose voice but silentness,
Whose light and music, half expended,
Would flood, dissolve the sphery frame; 'twixt whom
And man no endless night can throw its gloom
Till long Eternity is ended—
Which ne'er shall end—to thee, my trust, I turn!
To one, for whom in vain thy lamps now burn,
A hearing deign; nor from thy footstool spurn
The prayer of an imprisoned mind.
Father, thy sun is set; night veils the world,
That orbs more beauteous be to man unfurled,
Then in my Night, let me but find
New realms, where thought and fancy may rejoice;
Let its long silence ne'er displace Thy voice
From whispering hope and peace, 'twere my choice
To be thus smitten deaf and blind!
Fill me with light and music from above,
And so inspire with truth, faith, courage, love,
That Thou and man my work can well approve—
Father, to all I'm then resigned!
Harp of the mournful voice, now fare thee well!
My sad song ended, ended is thy spell.
Perchance thine echoes, memory haunting,
May oft awaken, shadowing forth the swell
Of long sung monody and long tolled knell,
And o'er the dead past, dirges chanting;
But for me, ever hang in Sorrow's hall!
Bid Night and Silence spread oblivion's pall
O'er earthly blooming joys, that seared must fall
And leave the stricken soul to weep:—
Ever, till this devoted head be hoar,
And the swart angel whispering at the door;
When I thy slumbers may disturb once more.
Ere double night bring double sleep,
Till then, I sing in happier, bolder strain:
What's lost to me is God's; what's left, for pain
Or joy still His: and endless day, His reign:
And reckoning of my Night He'll keep!
AUTUMN.
BY ELLENOR J. JONES,
Of the Indiana Institution.