LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, #1' '^-.^I^, A «*^ A CLUSTER OF POEMS, FOR THE Home and the Heart, GATHERED BY THE AUTHOR AT LEISURE HOURS. From Nature's gorgeous expanse Around him. Her shining worlds Above him, Her glowing deeps Qelow liim, And fron) her whispering: galleries ■\yithin him. / BY REV. A. MEANS, D. D., LL.D, EMORY COLLEGE, OXFORD, QA., 1878. NEW YORK: E. J. HALE & SON, PUBLISHERS, Murray Street. 1878. Tf Entered according; to Act of Congress, in the yenr 1878, By Eev. a. Means, D. D., LL. D., In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at ^Yasllington. STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY THE NATIONAL PRINTING CO., 13 CHAMBERS STREET, NEW YORK. DEDICATION. PROMPTED BY A LONG-STANDING PERSONAL ATTACHMENT, AND BY VIVID MEMORIES OF THE "AULD LANG SYNEj" AS WELL AS BY A HIGH ESTIMATE OF THE MAN, THE MINISTEK, and THE BISHOP, THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR, TO THE REV, GEORGE F. PIERCE, D.D., LLD., BISHOP OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH SOUTH. pfi^]el^«. These poetic effusions are tlie products of leisure hours, gained, througli many years past, from the pursuit of heavier and more im- perative duties, and are now respectfully and deferentially submitted to the public, at the repeated requests of many friends. Among them will be found Epic, Lyric, and Elegiac Poems, with Sacred Melodies, Sunday School Odes, and a few compositions, designed, when Avritten, as Ministerial Solos, for public and special occasions, and at a time when this element of public worship was more frequently employed than at the present day. It will bo seen that the author has not thought it advisable to arrange and classify these different styles of poetic composition under the several heads to which they may technically belong, but has largely distributed them throughout the volume, as likely to afford the conse- cutive reader a more agreeable variety than he might expect to enjoy by a methodical aggroupment of each different species of poetry. Tliey are thus presented, then, with the sincere wish and ardent hope, that amid the diversity of themes which they embrace, they may, at least in some slight degree, contribute to please, cheer, and elevate some minds, and excite pure and sublime emotions in some hearts. In conclusion: as the writer has, from boyhood, ever honored and esteemed the sex of his mother, he may be allowed to add, that he has sought to throw a sanctity and loveliness around the character of woman— to spring within her new aspirations for a still nobler position in society upon earth, and to charm her with the claims and awards of heaven. Such as the contents of this volume are, however, they are humbly consecrated to the cause of God and humanity. lilftiMfltii^ The autlior of tWs volume of poems waa born in Statesvillo, Nortli Carolina, February 6tli, 1801. From early manhood to this day, he has been among the busiest and best workers of his time. He became a student of necessity ; for from early boyhood he " hungered and thirst- ed " after truth. Thorough elemental training laid a good foundation for the noble superstructure of varied and useful learning which even now, while " the almond tree flourishes," employs his energies ; for such a man, though realizing that he can never finish in this world the work God gives him to do, must keep over in his heart that word of the Master : " Occupy till I come." lu medicine, science, literature, and theology, our honored friend has been, without intermission of zeal, an enthusiastic, painstaking student. As physician, scientist, writer, and preacher, he holds an honorable place among his contemporaries. For nearly half a centu- ry he has been identified with the great interests of education. Thou- sands throughout the South still live to bless him for the lessons learn- ed in his class and lecture I'ooms. The vauntings of atheistic science bring no alarms to his stead- fast heart. He has learued, for himself, that " God in nature and God in revelation are one." He hails with delight all real discoveries in science, and claims them as trophies for his King and Saviour. He believes, with great-hearted Milton, that " Truth, in some age or other, will find her witness, and shall be justified at last by her own chil- dren." Intimate knowledge of our author naturally reminds one of Lord Bacon's wise saying : '• It is true that a little philosophy inclincth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's miuds about to religion: for while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go no farther; but when it beholdeth the chain of them, confederate and linked to- gether, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity." A man who studies God and nature with a heart so susceptible and a spirit so reverent, must sometimes find himself " soaring in the viii INTRODUCTION. liigli regions of his fancy, -with liis garland and singing robes about liim," In tli6 world around liim and in the heavens above him he must see what others do not see, and hear what others do not hear, being among those favored ones " "Who carry music in their heart Througli dusky lane and wrangling mart; Plying their daily task with busier feet, Because their secret souls a holier strain repeat." Very truly do the wise Germans say : " In this world the eye sees what it brings capacity for seeing." A thousand times, as these poems are witness, our friend has felt in his heart of hearts all that Coleridge sings in his " Morning Hymn in the Vale of Chamouni :" " Awake, my soul ! Not only passive praise Thou owest ! Not alone these swelling tears. Mute thanks and secret ecstasy ! Awake, Voice of sweet song ! Awake, my heart, awake ! Green vales and icy cliffs, join in my hymn ! " In this dainty little volume are many songs of the affections. Our author has modestly named them "A Cluster of Poems for the Homo and the Heart." And they are well named, since he is one of the happy men who can sing with Croly of " Domestic Love :" " Oh love of loves ! to thy white hand is given Of earthly happiness the golden key ; Thine are thojoyous hours of winter's even, When the babes cling around their father's knee, And thine the voice that on the midnight sea. Meets the rude mariner with thoughts of home. Peopling the gloom with all he longs to see." This volume has been demanded of its author by a host of friends, and most earnestly by his old students. There are thousands, in his own section, many in the Northern and Western States of our gr^at Union, and some across the water, who will be glad to see and to en- joy this " Cluster of Poems for the Home and the Heart." And they may welcome it without fear; for there is not one poisonous flower in the cluster. There is not a line in this book that will bring a shadow to any home, a blush to any cheek, a snare to any heart. ATTICUS G. HAYGOOD. Emory College, OXI'ORD, Ga., Dec. 25, 1877. CONTENTS. Paob "AU ShaU he WeU," ...... 65 An Epithalamium, ... . . 210 An Infant's Flight to Heaven, , . . ,167 Apostroplie to an Album, . , , . .145 Apostrophe to the Stone Mountain, An, . . .26 Appendix, ...... 214 Atlanta Crushed and Crowned, . . . .50 Balloon's Ascension, The, .... 81 Beauty Enhanced by Piety, . . . . .108 Camp-raeeting Hymn, ..... 200 Camp-meeting Song, . . . . . .208 Capers, Little Charles Meminger, Elegy on, . . 102 Chamouni, Vale of, . . . • . .11 Christian Sabbath, The, ..... 36 Conviction and Conversion Contrasted, . . .128 Cupboard, The Little Pine, &c., .... 151 Deluge, The Noachian, . . . . .83 Emory and Oxford Apostrophized, ... 144 Farewell and the Greeting, The, . . . .157 Farewell Souvenir, A, . . • . .133 Friendship's Memorial, . . • . .174 Frown of God, The, ..... 48 Girlhood Expanded to Womanhood, . . . .182 Glacier in the Heart, A, . . . . .149 Gloom and Glory, . . . . . .128 Golden Girdle, The, ..... 177 Golden Wedding, The, . . . . .210 Grandeur of Nature and the Glory of Grace, Contrasted, . 112 Itinerant Minister's Wife, To an, . . . .166 Ladies' Welcome, The, ..... 119 " Little Ones, My Little Ones," . . . .193 "Live for the Skies," ..... 200 Madrigal, A, . . . . . .181 Masonic Ode, A, . . . . . . 78 Means, Miss Sallie L., Sketch of the late, . ^^_», . 135 Messiah's Coming Ecign, . . . . ' ^ . 188 CONTENTS. Millennium, A Vision of tlie, . Minister's Farewell, The, . Morning in May, A, . . Mount of Holiness, The, . New Year's Reflections— 1866— A, Ode to the Opening of the New Year, 1800, Parental AflFection, Phases of Woman, The, Pino Cupboard, The Little, &c., Pledge of AflFection, A, . Poetic Oft'ering, A, . Poetic Paraphrase of the Forty-eighth Psalm, Purity Rewarded, Rainbow Dream, The, Reminiscence (for his Wife) A, Sabbath, The Christian, Sacred Localities in Palestine, Samford, T. P., A Tribute to the memory of. Silent Power of Woman, The, Song-bird Uncaged, The, . Souvenir, A Farewell, Souvenir of Love, A, . . . Sparkling Beauty Transient, "Sunday-school, Our Sunday-school," Supplement to " The War," The Sear Leaf, .... The Sound of the Gospel is Passing Away, The Train, .... The War, and one of its Noble Victims, To the Author's Eldest Daughter, Tribute of Gratitude, A, . . ■ Tribute to the Heroic Dead, Triumphant Wife and Mother, A, Triumph of a Lofty Faith in Woman, The, Triumph of Joseph, Vision of the Millennium, A, Vale of Chamouni, in the Swiss Alps, Wedding Ring, The, Woman in Paradise, and Woman in Christendom, Woman, Silent Power of. Woman, Triumph of a Lofty Faith in, World Without, and the World Within, The, Young Student's Cloudless Close of Life, The, Young Womanhood Ripe for Heaven, Faok 16 191 169 78 110 31 206 29 151 180 140 184 77 23 80 86 95 58 147 100 133 117 205 197 69 171 202 72 58 206 114 108 163 130 77 16 11 207 122 147 130 105 186 135 A CLUSTER OF POEMS, IN THE SWISS ALPS. WRITTEN AFTER WITNESSING THE SUBLIME SCENES OP THAT MOUNTAIN REGION. Sweet Yale of Chamouni I the ** Pride of the Moun- tains," Thou bloomest in beauty, high up in the skies ; Where the roar of bright cascades from wild, gushing fountains, A torrent of music forever supplies. The Aiguille de Rouges rise in grandeur around thee, Encinctur'd with jasper and crested with snow ; To loom o'er the nestling retreat where I found thee, And cast their deep shadow o'er gorges below. 12 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. High, high to the eastward, to shut out the morning, The bold Montauvert rears its turreted steeps j The ice-wreaths of winter their summits adorning, Far aloft from the crags whence the avalanche leaps. Upheav'd from thy plain, and defying the ages — His time-honor'd diadem bare to the sky 5 His body-guards round him, where bleak winter rages — The " Monarch of Mountains," Mont Blanc, meets the eye. Great Castle of Kature ! Thy pinnacles tower Columnar and grand, and transpiercing the clouds, Where Jupiter Tonaus ne'er hazards his power, But stoops to the zone which his storm-cloud en- shrouds. Hark ! hark ! how it thunders ! — the mountains are quaking ! The tread of an avalanche sounds on the gale ! Vast bowlders are bounding! the forest is break- ing! Whole hamlets and herds are entombed in the vale ! THE VALE OF CHAMOUNL 13 Great God ! wlien the Alpine artilPry's unlimber'd, Aud cloud-mounted caissons supply the death- balls ; When the cannonade rolls over ice-fields, un timbered, Woe ! woe to the homes where the thunder-shock faUs! Yonder — stretching in gelid and motionless splendor, Through a half hundred miles — hes the cold Mer de Glace ; For deep mountain gorges their basins surrender, To cradle for ages the huge frozen mass. With margins of azure, its yawning crevasses Pierce down fifty fathoms — chill, gloomy, and dread, As if cleft by the lightnings, to open the passes To Pluto's dark caves, and their shadowy dead. Fronting far to the west, and in splendent illusion, The Glacier du Bois lifts its arch of sea-green j Whence the Arviron leaps from its icy seclusion,* Uncavern'd and free, to give life to the scene. * A subterraneous stream wliicli gushes out from the western base of the glacier. 14 A CLUSTER OF POEMS, The Arve, rusliing by, claims tlie fugitive stranger, And bursts every barrier, to blend with the Ehone j While dark frowning cliffs overhang it with danger, Nor heed its wild wail through its channels of stone. Lash'd on by the Furies that rul'd at its fountains, In headlong persistence — defiant of foes — It clears rocky ledges, tears open the mountains. And roars with the tempest, the wilder it blows. But the Ehone is in sight I and these ostracised daughters — A blonde and brunette, in discordant embrace* — Soon close their career in Geneva's blue waters, Their rest to secure, and their stains to efface.! Here, plung'd and absterg'd by their azure lavation, In beauty and loveliness now they agree ; And silently seeking a new destination. Their sweet limpid waters glide on to the sea. Bright type of the soul as it enters probation I Polluted and restless through life to be driven, • Appendix A. t Appendix B. THE VALE OF CHAMOUNI. 15 Until, wasli'd in the laver of regeneration, Its purified essence flows smoothly to heav'n. I knew, fair Chamouni ! that rock-ramparts bound thee. And Titans, ice-thron'd, have conspired to destroy ; But Phoebus shall smite them— green glories sur- round thee — And spring-time and summer then crown thee with joy. Farewell, cloistered Eden ! I leave thee forever ! No more through thy gorges and glaciers to roam; But in far distant lands I'll forget, never, never, The grandeur and peace of thy sweet mountain home. 16 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. A PRIZE POEM.* Away ! away ! my restless, reaching miud ! Obey the impulse, beating high within — The truthful index of immortal life. Away from books and banks and civil strife, And all the horde of mercenary cares, Long, long taskmasters o'er thy humbled powers. Jj^t nobler themes, reveal'd to mortal ken, Arouse thy slumb'ring energies t' ascend The empyrean arch which grandly spans Ethereal regions, flush'd with glowing life ;— And foll'wing far the onward lines of light That richly streak the cloudless moral heavens And make their focus on a distant age, O'erleap the lapse of intervening years. And settle down beneath the hemisphere •A premium granted. A VISION OF THE MILLENNIUM. 17 Of uncreated liglit that pales the stars, And canopies the globe with dazzling sheen — Surpassing far you zone of ample sweep That belts the evening sky of Saturn's orb. Transcendent light of God's millennial day ! The hallo w'd radiance of supernal bliss ! The end of i)rox)hecy ! The reign of Heav'n ! To this, in bygone years, the holy seers With gifted vision look'd ; and patriarchs, And saiuts of later age, all bent their eyes Upon the looming future, full of hoi)e. The gathering light of eighteen hundred years Has half reveal'd the soul-absorbing scene, And sprung the faith of Zion's sons afresh. Earth, air and sea, their noblest tribute pay, To speed creation to its goal of bliss. Immortal mind is levied on from high, And plumes her wing for bold empyreal flight. E'en Mammon smiles, and taps his golden stores, To cheer the heathen with the '' Book of Life 5" While Science, thron'd amid the starry hosts. And wielding far the scepter of her reign 2** 18 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. O'er boundless realms — lier own — sublimely bows, And wreaths lier wealth of honors round the Cross. The Arts — her servants all — submissive yield Their gen'rous tribute to the glorious work ; And rivaling in speed the panting winds, Her wondrous messengers, on burning wheel Swift scour the bosom of the boiling seas, And bear on board the commerce of the world ; ]S"ay, rarer still, the pabulum of life, In Bible stores, to feed its famish'd tribes. Then, rushing on o'er continental i)lains, They bound in smoke and thunder through the hills, And tunnel'd mountains echo to their tread, As, drai^d in night, and yelling to the winds, They pierce th' embowel'd rock, and, belching fire, Insult his throne, and challenge Pluto's reign ! The Stygian gloom surpass'd, th' emergent train Swings high in air, and rings along the cliffs 5 Transilient, clears a hundred yawning chasms, And, tireless, leaps the intervening floods, To hail with eagle scream the farthest goal. Not still enough to crown this matchless age, And conquer Nature for the reign of Grace— A VISION OF THE MILLENNIUM. 19 The very seas unbar their coral caves, To let the world look in ! And far below The emVald beds where fabled mermaids sleep, The wir'y cable springs its graceful curves, And widely spans suboceanic steeps ; While thought, electric, shoots the deeps profound, To gladden nations on the distant shore, And bind, in brothers' bonds, antipodes. All, all portend, th' august, approaching day. Faith, stirr'd by thick'ning signs that mark the time, Uplifts her kindling eye, and hurries on To hail the dawn of great Messiah's reign. The world's foregone ! Its noisy din is hush'd ; Earth's sickly hopes and vapid joys forgot. The orient heav'ns, aglow with liquid gold, Outspread their sx)lendors on creation's hosts. The wid'ning day unfolds — the Shiloh comes ! The streamers from His rising throne flash far, And flush the skies with greater glories near. Hail ! Prince of Peace ! Great David's Son and Lord I 20 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. Eternal Power, all hail ! Forever hail ! The raDSom'd nations shout, " Thy kingdom come !'^ ***** Oh, what a scene ! A God on earth again I And crowding millions of apostate men, Each full of heaven, and welcomed to Ilis smiles I Symphonious hallelujahs echoing far, And rolling on the winds, to list'ning zones, The boundless raptures of a world redeem'd ! All, all is peace. Perennial glory shines O'er the broad bosom of the moral deep. Norufiian tempests lash the sea of life, To wreck their victims on a hopeless coast j Calm sleep the waves — the howling winds are hushed, For more than Neptune rules the noiseless main. Thrice hallow'd era to the tribes of earth ! The great Deceiver struggles iu his chains, The prisou'd victim of Messiah's pow'r. Infernal malice heaves its burning breast, But dare not sluice its venom on the world. Sin, scath'd and sear'd, has withered to its death, And plants of holy growth o'erspread the land. No clarion rings t' inflame the martiaFd host. Or drown the clangor of their flashing steel ; A VISION OF THE MILLENNIUM. 5il No tliund'ring ordnance shakes th' ensanguined plain, Nor butclier'd thousands bleach on foreign soil. No deadly blade is launch'd by villain's hand j No reckless mobs exult in seething flames. The black, confounded brotherhood of crime Abhor the light, and covert seek in hell. One broad, one boundless, one intensive day Illumes the moral world, and gilds the grave ! Earth breathes the air of heaven. Celestial sounds Eing through her thousand palaces, and swell In rapturous strains from cottages of clay ! One step— one brief, one rapid, noiseless step, Soft as an angel's tread on Hermon's dew — And all is heaven ; unmask'd, unclouded heavm ! A God unyeil'd ! Supernal bliss begun. Stupendous thought ! The ravish'd soul's o'erwhelm'd ! Its seat a throne 5 immensity its range ! ****** But stay ! These vasty contemplations sweep My spirit from its moorings. Where am I ? High heaven's the focus of the Godhead's light, Where none but eyes immortal gaze unscath'd. ****** Poor earth-born child, retreat ! Thou tread'st too far ; Thy sense o'erpower'd recoils, and shrinks abash'd. 22 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. Await the openiug future fast in faith^ And, clad iu peerless mail of lieav'nly mold, Still breast the wingless bolts that wandering fly From spent assailants, tott'ring to their fall. A mother's voice inspires, and sainted forms That arin'dthy boyhood with the shield ofpray'r, Seem bending from their thrones of living light, And wave the victor's palm, to woo thee on. The conflict nears its close — the heights are scal'd — The fiercest batt'ries, silenc'd, boom no more. Th' infernal foe, with shattered shield and blade. Vindictive, fears and flies supernal pow'r. And leaves his strongholds to the " sons of God." The skies are blushing as the morning rose ; And Vict'ry, bending from her azure throne. Entwines her garlands for Thy conq'ring brow. Thy rapturous gaze, from inspiration's peaks. Caught but the adumbration, shooting far. Of world-wide splendors in a coming age. That age is hast'ning on. God speed its pace, Till, stooping from their heights, the burthen'd skies Are rent with overcharge of endless bliss, A7id cloudless glory merges earth in heaven I THE RAINBOW DREAM. 23 fit H^lnStit Hwtut A PREMIUM POEM.* It was niglit on the plain, and the vilhige was still ; J^ot a wing was afloat on the air. Ev'ry wheel was at rest in the neighboring mill, And the invalid doz\l in his chair. I had i)ray'd for the lov'd ones in camps far away, And had sunk in the arms of repose, Overpower'd by the cares and the toils of the day, When a bright dreamy vision arose. It was twilight, it seemed, as I gaz'd from my room. And beheld, in the dark southern sky, A RAINBOW in beauty and majestj^ loom O'er the billowy cloud-drifts on high. As I stepped from the door, and with rapid eye-glance Swept the broad panorama around. Written during tlie war, and trutlifulin its details. 24 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. How sublime was the pomp through the blazing ex- panse ! While the atmosphere breathed not a sound. For in prismatic glory the heavens all smiPd, And shone on the landscape below j From horizon to zenith the arches were pil'd — East, west, north and south were aglow ! Fleecy masses of vapor, disrupted and pale, As if taking their leave of the sky, Floated gloomily by over mountain and vale — Yet they robbed not a bow of its dye. Far aloft in the east was the " All-seeing Eye,'' And, resplendent with streamers of light. It was burning like Constantine's Cross in the sky, While the world stood in awe at the sight. Great God I with what grandeur creation then shone. In her purple, and crimson, and gold ! Was the curtain uplifted that circles the Throne, And a scroll from the Godhead unroll'd? THE RAINBOW DREAM. 25 Were the thousand bright arches that spanned the blue dome, The symbohc foretokens of peace % Shall the tempest that beats o'er my once hapiDy home, And the thunder of battle, soon cease % Shall the red clouds of war, rent and torn by the blast That Mercy shall speed from on high, Be swept from our sky, and the smisliiue at last Kindle joy through the land, far and nigh % Does the eye of Omniscience auspiciously beam On the land of the orange and pine. To encourage our faith with the glories that gleam From a providence truly divine % Then thanks for the vision, so rich and so rare, So abounding with hope and with God ! We shall outlive the tempest, and breathe a free air, Where ensanguined battalions have trod ! 2 26 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. %M %^n^itm%t ft f ft Mmt MtwiMii** SITUATED IN DE KALB COUNTY, GEOBGIA. Great grauite monster, whence thy birth ? What age ui)heav'd thy giant form ? Why has the rent and laboring earth Disgorged thee bare to sun and storm ? Why chng'st thou to her breast, disownM — A naked outcast, scath'd and peel'd — While smiUng i)lains her lap has nurs'd, Are crowned with wealth of wood and field ? A foundling flung, without a name, 'Mid winds and skies to stand alone 5 What paps have nurs'd thy Titan frame ? What gorgon glance transformed to stone ? Thy natal hour no memories reach — Far lost in a primeval age, * See Appendix O. THE STONE MOUNTAIN. 27 When fire and flood, in fearful breach Of pristme order, shot theu* rage. Upheav'd to heaven, in hoary pride, O'er toppling thrones thou tow^rest now. Wild hurricanes have lash'd thy side ; Insulting thunders storm'd thy brow. Yet there thou gloomest, stern and stroug — The wrecks of tempests at thy feet j The storm-god's thrilling battle-gong Silenc'd, as all his hosts retreat. Bald, bleak and bleach'd, thou Ung'rest on, Survivor of a world entomb'd j And, rob'd in light, thy rocky throne Shall brave the skies till earth is doom'd. Great monumental pile, live on ! For suns shall gild thy royal head When Egypt's pyramids are gone. With all their underlying dead. Down deep below thy cloudless face The storm of internecine war 28 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. May roll its columns round thy base, Led on by their portentous star. Unsheeted heroes long shaU sleep In countless thousands at thy feet, And widows wail, and orphans weep, No more their mold'ring dead to greet.* But though a people gor'd and torn, Bewail in blood their martyrs gone — No grief for millions thus that mourn, Shall ever stir thy heart of stone. In scathless strength and stoic gloom. Thou still shalt mock the wastes of years, Till herald thunders wake the tomb, And God in judgment pomp appears. * During tlielate destructive war between tbo Nortlieru and Southern States, a battle was fouglit near tlie base of tills mountain. THE PHASES OF WOMAN. 29 J%t W%mt^ ^l Wtm^. I SAW her a bright and a lovely thing, As she press'cl tlie hps that taught her j Like a rosebud nurs'd in the lap of spring She bloom'd — and I call'd her " daughter." Again I gaz^d as she j)assVl along, And a brother smiPd and kissVI her ; With her ringing laugh and her witching song, ^Twas a joy to call her " sister.'^ I saw her again in her queenly pride, As a raptur'd lover claim'd her ; She stood at the altar, his brilliant bride. And his charming '-'- wife" he nam'd her. I saw her a matron, in riper years, When she clasp'd to her heart another 5 It lay and gaz'd on her grateful tears ; Then smil'd, and call'd her " mother." 30 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. I saw her last, as she pass'd away, With her household bending round her ; A convoy came from the realms of day, And an " angel " form they found her. Oh, let me repose upon woman's breast ! Let her lap in childhood hold me ! And in ripe old age, when I sink to rest. May her guardian arms enfold me 1 TO THE YEAR 1860. 31 %% tit f# %%t %tm\m ^t \%t ftMi I860 ; THE EVE OF OUR CALAMITOUS WAR. How placidly slimes the moruing star, As she starts on her new career 5 And heralds the pomp of Aurora's car, Through the gates of the opening year ! In advance of the rosy blush of day, She moves as a virgin queen 5 And ascends the skies but to sink away In the depths of their blue serene. The orient heavens are pav^d with gold, For the tread of Apollo's wheel ; And its dazzling beams, as the gates unfold, An awaking world reveal. The homes of the happy with shouts resound, As they welcome the new-born cheer j 32 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. Wliile Eighteen Hundred and Sixtifs crowned, Aud haiFd as the reiguiug year. The morning has spread her silver sheen On the mountain's glowing brow, And millions that greet the resplendent scene Now start to the loom and plow. How merrily rings the peasant's song O'er liis sunlit hills and plains ; While maids and mothers the notes prolong, Until childhood swells the strains. But the laugh and the sport of the " Christ- mas-tree," And the " Ohristmas-gift " and gun, With the negro's smirk, and his banjo glee. Have fled from the rising sun ; While a thousand wheels that have palsied hung Till the holiday sports were o'er, Are now in their bands and braces swung, And thunder and smoke once more. Then away, away as their echoes roll Over mountain and lake and field, TO THE YEAR 1860. 33 Lo ! the nations are rousing from Line to Pole, For the shock of the spear and shield. There's a struggle ahead, 'twixt counter pow'rs, And the throues of the kingdoms shake \ The heavens are gathering avenging show'rs, And the hearts of the guilty quake.* Oh, ye godly seers of the filmy past ! Ere the midsummer sign shall rise, Shall my country stoop to the stormy blast, Or withstand the inclement skies % Great Power above ! lock the demon's wheel That rushes with blade and brand To gloat o'er the carnage of crimson'd steel, And the smoke of a burning land ! A fratricide's doom is in red reserve, And Vengeance has nurs'd the blaze, To scathe and to sear the vandal nerve That essays the torch to raise. Oh, bind our temple with bolts of steel. And seam it with molten gold ! * There were at tliia time rumors of war in Europe. 2* 34 A CLUSTER OF POEMS, From its flaming walls let the traitor reel, Under Julian's curse of old ! But surely a cordon of angels stand To encircle its lofty dome 5 And a legion more, by divine command, Shall encamp round Freedom's home. Then bury the past in eternal night, With its tales, and tears, and blood j Let us rise on the wings of the morning's light, To meet and commune with God. Though creation's clock no sound has rung, And its beat has alarm'd no ears ; Yet are countless cycles of ages flung From the sweep of its rolling spheres. We are onward bound, with a brisker breeze And a bolder piston stroke 5 Already we rock on the heaving seas, And the favoring skies invoke. There are signs in the heavens, and signs on earth, That presage the millennial reign j TO THE YEAR 18G0. 35 And millions of prayers, of priceless worth, Are ascending from land and main. The Lion of Judah has opened the seal, And the last seventh trumi)et soimds ; Like AliDine thunder, the echoing peal From the temple of God resounds. O God of the cross to the guilty giv'n ! In thy cloudless reign appear j Make the earth an elysium fill'd with heaven, Ere the close of this circling year ! 36 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. LIKE pope's BRITISH ROSE, "THE TYPE OF SWEET RULE AND GENTLE MAJESTY." ANALYSIS. — 1. Its antiqttity and continuance a proof of its divine origin. 2. Dawn of day. J. Sunrise. 4. Its universal quiet, and noiseless reign. J. The morning Sun- day-school. 6. Approaching noon. 7. Gathering to the house of -worship. 8. Church service commenced, g Tht piclpit appeal of the hour. 10. Its solemn and affecting close. II. A more extended survey. 12. The Sabbath on a heathen shore. 7j. The Missionary's triumph. 14. The hallowing anticipation of the ETERNAL SABBATK. Hail, peaceful Sabbath ! Type of endless rest ! Thou voiceless oracle of priceless truth ! The nation's guarantee that Israel's God — Who in the depth of by-gone years, from high, Baptized tby virgin hours, and claim'd them His— Still lives in Zion, stretching far His reign, And pouring proof on prophecy, where'er Thy hallow'd sunshine greets the Christian world ! Thrice welcome, happy day ! my spirit hails With joyous bound thy monumental hours. They come, fresh with the story of the Cross, And laden with salvation's Tichest fruits. THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH, 37 Eiped on Calv'ry's toi> iu noonday night, And grown iu luscious plenty from the soil Steep'd in the gore of God's vicarious Son. Sweet day of rest ! How still creation round ! Hush'd in divine repose ; still more like heaven, When starry sentinels with beamless lamps, Retiring fast, throw wide the gates of day, And o'er the waking millions, looming high, Aurora's purple robe adorns the east — Emblazon'd symbol of approaching pomp. But soon, the portals i^ast, in crimson glow Apollo's blazing chariot mounts the sky. And, slowly rolling up the steep of heaven, In cloudless glory flings its golden light In wide profusion over flood and field — Now sporting on the slumb'ring infant's cheek, And kissing into second life the lids Late softly lock'd in soothing sleep's embrace 5 And now, its dazzling luster flashing far O'er dimpling stream and azure-tinted lake. Wakes up the sleepers from their wat'ry beds. And, bounding into light, the finny tribes Leap high in air f express their Maker's praise 5 While woods, responsive to the glad'niug sounds, 38 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. Send back the echoes of a thousand strains From joyous warblers in their leafy bow'rs, Their matin melodies of grateful song. But now creation's hymns have ceas'd, and wide The blissful Sabbath spreads its balmy peace ; Intelligence is thron'd to honor God, And hush the clamors of a guilty world. ****** Behold how wide the noiseless quiet reigns ! The plow mid-furrow stands, as loath to move, And mar the solemn grandeur of the scene. The faithful ox, half dozing 'mid the shade, Revolves his cud, or freely roams the plain. The noble horse, relieved from rein and draught, His forage grinds, and, patient in his stall, Atones in dreamy mood his weekly toils. The grating saw, reverberating axe And rustling plane, their deafening stridor hush, And noisy Commerce shuts her thousand doors. The busy factory's thund'rous hum has ceas'd — Its glowing wheels have paus'd to take their rest? Its prison'd sons to breathe the air of heaven. E'en greed of gold — whose avaricious clutch For six days past has beggar'd helpless babes, THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 39 Extorted tears from liomeless widows' eyes, And fiird its coffers with ungodly gain, In headlong haste to rival Mammon's fame — Must halt for once, and cloak his canc'rous lust, Or meet the blasting glance of pubUc scorn. All, all is calm. A bless'd armistice reigns- And angel voices seem to whisper peace. All over Christendom's extended plains Bright smiling groups of joyous youth appear, Treading, with book in hand and agile step. The honor'd pathway to the house of God. Anon, a gentle hum pervades the aisles, And softly floats along the ambient air, As lisping tongues rehearse the storied scenes Of oriental archives, penn'd by Heaven, To guide th' expectant nations to the Cross. Their ringing sounds, like chimes of silver bells — Subdued by graver notes of riper age — Roll through the groin'd and fretted vaults, to win Symphonious voices from the echoing walls. Seraphic sounds ! 'Tis Zion's infant hosts Before their King, in reverential mood. In holy training for the wars of Heaven. 40 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. That modest, meek-eyed youth, of sylph-Uke form, Unconscious of his worth, is gathering strength — Immortal strength, of more than earthly mold — To join the sacramental host elect. And wield, in future times, an earthquake's pow'r Against the lofty battlements of sin. Yon cherub sister — ^lovely, young and fair ; Whose clust'ring locks her polish'd temples shade, But leave in open view an angel smile, T' expand the roses on her crimson cheek ; Her guileless bosom full of saintly zeal. Her parting lips to soft inquiry fram'd ; Whose sparkling eyes with anxious gaze surveys Each line that marks her teacher's speaking face. While, bright with joy, she quaffs the heav'nly draught That flows in luscious stream from lips she loves, Surpassing far the nectar of the gods — In years to come, with matron j^ride, shall nurse Some infant Washington, whose lofty soul In conscious majesty shall one day rise To wrench the scepter from a tyraut/s grasp, And win the homage of a nation's heart ; Or train around the lov'd maternal knee THE CHRISTIAN- SABBA TH 41 Some gifted Wesley, born to deathless fame, Aud '''- pregnant with celestial fire/' design'd To re-illume the darksome temple-courts, And kindle offerings at ten thousand shrines. Another, and another, bath'd in living light At these pure founts, in coming years shall sweep In ample orbit through the moral heavens, And blend their radiance in the glowing skies. ****** But richer splendor crowns the reigning day, And clothes a hemisphere in rainbow dyes. Hark ! hark ! The sweetly solemn bell In measur'd tones now strikes the stilly air ; And chiming long and loud with sister sounds, Now woos the stirring thousands from theh^ homes, To crowd the temple-gates, and thinly on heaven, Where God's own altar burns, and purer light, Celestial, streams from Zion's holy hill. Transporting sight ! Whole floods of human forms, In cities-full, roll down the sounding streets. The country's throng'd with well-attir'd groups, Moving in silence to the house of prayer. 2** 42 A CLUSTER OF POEMS, Tlie solemn audience waits in mute susi)ense, Till, rising to his consecrated desk, The man of God appears. Th' Eternal Word Inspires his glowing heart, and pours its truth In healing volumes from his chasten'd lips ; Then bow'd in suppliant mood, his soul on fire, He wings the faith of hundreds for the throne Where boundless Mercy waits to lavish peace. In earnest, calm appeal, his work begins. His field embraces oriental climes, Where human Hope was shorn of all her wealth, And outraged Virtue sought her native skies. His theme is high as heav'n and deep as hell ; But, ranging through its vast domains, he dwells On '^ man's first disobedience and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, with all our woe." In burning words he paints the wrath pluck'd down, To blast the Eden where the deed was done, And brand with infamy the human race j Then turns to Calvary with palms outspread, And, fuU of faith and of the Holy Ghost, Invokes th^ incarnate God, once bathed in blood, Whose agonies upheaved the startled globe THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 43 Till rocks were rent and graves disgorg'd tbeii- dead ; While weeping Nature, bending o'er His cross, Her laws forgot, and shudder'd to the stars j And sympathizing Mercy deigned to drape The sunless heavens with the pall of death. Then, rapt in bliss, th' exulting preacher cries : " The plea is heard ! The Couq'ror claims His crown. And Death and Hell lie crushed beneath His feet ! Creation smiles, and angel guards descend j A cloudy throne receives the rising Lord j Unnumber'd seraphs crowd the gates of heaven. To greet their conq'ring Eang with choral strains. And Truth and Mercy kiss in long embrace." The spell-bound audience feel th' unearthly theme. And deep emotion starts the rising tear. The reckless renegade no longer taunts, Nor dares to spurn the Saviour from his soul. Old age and youth in blending pathos melt, And saints, enraptured, hail their coming heaven. Oh hallow'd day ! The sooth'd and soften'd crowd In pensive rev'rence seek their several homes, 44 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. To stay themselves ou God, and nobly foil The fierce temptations of the opening week. But still enlarge the scene. Far, far away, Amid the blue Pacific's watery wastes. Within the fiery Tropic's dazzling zone, Owhyhee lifts above th' unfathom'd floods His Alpine brow, to brave the heats of heaven And vaunt his sparkling diadem of snow. Where Mauna Eoa's yaAvning crater spouts. With thund'rhig sounds, its cataracts of fire. 'Mid these inhospitable skies he bares His rocky breast to break the ocean wave Where kindred islands slumber on the deep, And templed barbarism, steep'd in blood. Late held its orgies on the smoking soil. But Truth Eternal, borne upon the winds, On high commission to the pagan world. Its beacon-lights lias shed through fog and gloom. To rouse the torpid sleepers from their dreams. And turn their guilty thousands to the Cross. What wondrous prodigy is here ! A birth — A nation's moral birth — in one short day ! THE CHRISTIAN SABBA TH. 45 Idolatry abjured, and sinless blood From infants' veins no more to curse the land. Oh blissful change ! The sacred Sabbath now With halcyon beams illumes the sea-bound group. No steeple-bell disturbs the native wilds. The forest sleeps, and lounging herds traverse The sunlit plains, while Industry's at rest. The bark canoe no longer skims the waves, But, tether'd to the shore, with easy swing It rocks responsive to the rippling tide. The meshy net no finny game entoils, But hangs on neighb'ring rocks, to drip and dry. Nay, dreamy silence woos the beasts to roam Without the dread of spear or whizziug shaft. The timid kangaroo, from shady copse. With nursling brood embowel'd in her folds, Leaps free and far, to browse amid the cliffs. The parakeet and tufted cockatoo Their gaudy plumage llaunt in open air, And chatter to the viewless winds unharm'd, For now the tawny island hordes are still ; The palm-leaf chapel holds their manly forms, As, bow'd in solemn mood, with hands outspread, They join the fervent, soul-absorbing prayer 46 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. The Missionary sends to list'ning Heaven- For savage nature— tam'd, and sooth'd, and sav'd— Glad hails the hour, and, rising at its close, Loud shouts redemption to the sounding seas. Heaven-consecrated day I The Godhead's boon ! The pledge hebdomadal of bliss to come ! O'er suppliant tribes and yielding kingdoms rule, Till Hottentot and Hindoo, Turk and Moor, And all the hosts of idol-serving knee, Shall hail thy gladsome hours, and weekly swell The world-wide anthem to the Christian's God ! Then let the seasons roll, and Sabbaths come, In pregustation of eternal rest ! Soon, soon th' Apocalyptic trump shall ring The herald thunders of the coming throne ; And buried millions leap from sod and sea. To swell the pageant, and to meet their God. The scene shall pass in quick but dread review. The earth in seething flames — its millions doom'd — And then the stormy elements shall sink, Like fretful babes, to silence and to peace. THE CHRISTIAN SABBA TH. 47 Great God, how grand ! Tli' ecstatic vision's true ! Th' Eternal Sabbath sheds its morning light, Undimm'd by shadows and unspent by years ; While glory, streaming from Jehovah's eye. Floods heaven with boundless bhss, and wakes The hallelujahs of a WORLD redeem'd ! 48 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. I HAVE seen the lightning's thong Fiercely lash the howling skies ; Heard the thunder's battle-gong Bid the giant tempest rise : I have seen the midnight air Redden with the meteor's blaze; Show'rs of sky -built rockets glare O'er a world's affrighted gaze : I have heard the quaking ground Bellow to the whirlwind's blast ; Trembled at the startling sound, As the wild tornado pass'd : I have felt creation rock To the earthquake's fearful tread ; While amid th' astounding shock Houseless thousands fear'd and fled I have groan'd with earthly woes — Battled with Misfortune's blast- — THE FROWN OF GOD. 49 Gaz'd upon her dying throes, When a mother breath'd her last : Yet amid these scenes of dread, Faith may spread her cloudless skies ; Man survive when Nature's dead, And in richer glory rise. But one liorror^ deadlier far, Wraps the soul in Stygian gloom — Leaves the world without a star. Pours its curse beyond the tomb. Thunders, whirlwinds, earthquakes, raise Scarce a murmur on his ears. When its piercing, with'ring blaze. Stirs the godless sinner's fears. Let me meet the lightning's flash — Wear the thunder-scars of heav'n — Eeel amid the tempest's crash — Eide the floods, by cyclones driv'n : Nor the drunken globe stand still — Earthquakes cleaving ev'ry sod ; Only shield me from one ill ! — Save me from the Fkown of God ! 3 rl CLUSTER OF POEMS. A POEM ^VDDEESSED TO THE GRADUATING CLASS OF THE ATLANTA BIEDICAL COLLEGE, AND TO A LARGE AND ATTENTIVE AUDIENCE OF CITIZENS, ASSEMBLED IN THE CITY HALL, AUGUST 31ST, 1866. [Tills yonug- aud llourisliiiig city, wbicli tlieu contaiucd about 18,000 iuLabitaiits, was burnt, ravaged, and razed to its Ibuuda- tioiis, iu tbc moutb of September, 1SC4, by tbe Federal forces uuder tbe couimaiid of Geu. Sbermau, during tbc four years' merciless iuterneciue war between tbc Nortb and tbe Soutb. But no soouer bad peace been declared, tbau ber returning tbousands wbo bad fled from tbeir blazing bomes, commenced to rebuild tbe ruined city and repair tbeir wasted fortunes. Sucb an outlay of bumau energy bas pcrbaps never been witnessed upon citbcr continent, in tbc same lengtb of time, and witb no larger resources at command.] On this bright gala-day busy memory sweeps, Upon broad, dusky wiug, the exuberant past ; Numbers twenty-three mouths, and looks down on the heaps Of a war-ravag'd city, just breathing her last. ATLANTA CRUSHED AND CROWNED. 51 O God ! what a vision glares red on tlie eye, As earth-rocking thunders roll death through the streets, And millions of capital melt in the sky, As flames lash her buildings in wild, livid sheets ! Pandemonium shouts though her sulphurous hall Till the revel infernal re-echoes through hell. And the great master spirit responds to the call That invokes his black curse over mountaiu and dell. But enough! — there's a chapter of carnage and blood That shall glow in red letters on history's page. And shall rival the records of fire and of Hood That have scandal'd a Nero's and AttihVs age. ****** The demon of war had scarce quitted his prey. And a conquering army its plunder and lust ; Its cataract roar had but just died away Over bomb-shatter'd buildings, now crumbled to dust. When thousands who fled from their blazing abodes, To seek among strangers a covert from war. 52 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. Look'd longingly back o^er the blood-clotted roads, And their courage replum^d, under Hope's guiding star. From the north, south, and east, the worn refugees come, And the west pours her quota in dust-cover'd throngs 5 Each weeps o'er the wreck of his once happy home. And appeals to high Heav'n to avenge all his wrongs. FuU-soul'd and harmonious, they rush to new toils. And tax earth and air, sea and sky, for supplies ; And though myrmidon legions had gorg'd on her spoils. They swear by their manhood '•''Atlanta shall rUeP^ 'Twas a struggle of giants that knew no recoil ! From morning till midnight resounded their blows 5 The ingath'ring thousands no dangers could foil, Till the white flag of triumph in glory arose. Old Balbec and Luxor for ages have slept, Eedeemless and time-worn and shrouded in gloom j ATLANTA CRUSHED AND CROIVNED. 53 O'er their huge broken columns the serpent has crept, And the yells of the jackal have sounded theh^ doom. But the deathless Gate City, though crush'd by the tread Of militant millions and thundering trains, Has rent her own winding-sheet, burst from the dead, And the new pulse of life gushes warm through her veins ! Hail ! hail ! ye proud piles of undying renown ! Your numbers shall swell as the ages roll on ; And your sun-lighted summits in grandeur look down On the contrite admirers your fame shall have won. Fair Queen of the Midlands ! thy reign shall extend From mountain to seaboard where commerce is found ; And Eeligion and Science in harmony blend. To foster the virtues their bulwarks surround. Thus, lighting the landscape and blessing the land, The next generation thy name shall inspire, 54 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. To shout on the soil where thy mouuments stand, ^' Tlie souls of our fathers ivere proof against fire ! " Ye parchmented hen^s of Hippocrates, rouse ! Your knowledge must quacks and impostors con- found J Your fond "Alma Mater" has laureFd your brows, And Atlanta shall honor the sons she has crown'd- She has own'd your profession, its temple repaired, Dismantled and torn by the storm that has pass'd . Then build up her fame with a labor unspar'd, That her gloom may be turn'd into glory at last. ALL SHALL BE WELL. Dark, dark is the uiglit, and the fierce winds are howling, And red, stnnning thunderbolts leap from the sky ; The ocean is boiling! the heavens are scowhng ! And Nature weeps crystalline tears from on high. But wait, only wait, and the future shall tell. That God rules the tempest^ and all shall be well. The morning is coming ! The storm-god is flying. And leaves in his rear all the spoils he has won ; Aurora is smiling ; her chariot is nighing, And soft, golden cloudlets now herald the sun. Then wait, only wait, and the future shall tell, That God rules the sunbeams^ and all shall be well. * # * * * * But again heaven darkens! The rain-floods are pouring, And torrents careering, roll wasting and wide. 56 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. The meadows are dclug'd 5 the rivcivS are roaring, And flocks, herds and homes are entorab'd in tlie tide. But wait, only wait, and the future shall tell. That God rules the deluge^ and all shall be well. The wild inundation has calmly subsided — The streams to their channels submissive recoil ; A fertile alluvium thus is provided, And husbandmen reap richer fruits from the soil. Then wait, only wait, and the future shall tell. That God rules the harvest, and all shall be well. The cholera rages ! An infant is sleeping — A gay, godless mother has rocked it to rest ; But Heaven claims the cherub ! — the mother is weei)- And bows to her God with a spirit unblest. Still wait, only wait, and the future shall tell, That God rules in sorrow, and all shall be well. That chamber is hallow'd, with angels attending Where childhood was budding, to bloom in the skies 5 "^ZZ SHALL BE WELL:' 57 That mother has yielded — ^her prayers are ascend- ing—- Resigned and submissive, peace beams from her eyes. Then wait, only wait, and the future shall tell, That God rules in mercy ^ and all shall be well. Thus providence rules o'er the works of creation, And turns all the darkness of earth into light ; From sorrow educes the hopes of salvation, And crowns with its blessings misfortune and blight. Then wait, only wait, and the future shall tell. That God rules foreyer ! and all shall be WELL. 3* 08 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. AND ONE OF ITS NOBLE VICTIMS. A Tribute to the memory of Thomas Preston Samford, First Lieutenant of Company M, First Texas Begiment, and young- est son of the Rev. Tliomas Samford, formerly of Georgia, and a member of the Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in that State, but since, a resident of Marshall^ Harrison County, Texas, and now NO more. This noble young man and Christian hero, under the overpow- ering sense of the terrible emergency which periled the future destiny of the land that gave him birth, early threw himself into the front ranks of resistance to what he regarded unwar- rantable encroachments of power ; fought over the gory field, and through the smoke and carnage of Manassas, stood firm and un- flinching in all the fights around Richmond, and was reserved for a patriot's grave and a hero's crown, on the distant soil of Maryland. Amid the roar of artillery and the clash of arms in the fearful struggle at Sharpsburg, while rushing on with a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other, in front of his faith, ful command, and crjung out, with flushed cheek and flashing eye, " Strike, my boys, for your homes and your Confederacy !'' he gloriously fell, a martyr to the cause of the South. UncoflSned and unknelled, he was quietly laid away in a soldier's " red winding-sheet," to await the rewards of the true and the brave. A. M. THE WAR. 5» The earth has grown gray amid carnage and blood, And battle-fields reek with the gore of the slain ; The triumphs of pestilence, famine and flood, All pale in the glare of the war-god's reign. But red though his scepter and stormy his sway Over antediluvian sons of the soil, Surviving the Deluge, he widen'd his way To crush bleeding nations, or make them his spoil. But what are the trophies of ages gone by — The laurels that cincture his storm-furrow\l brow % Mere baubles of childhood, that fade in his eye, To glories that crown him a conqueror now. A continent shakes to the weight of his wheel, And panoplied millions collide on the plain j The mountains re-echo the clangor of steel, And rivers run red "with the blood of the slain I Here Mind, like the maniac, sunders her chains. And bounds to the touch that has open'd her cell ; In perilous flight, circles Nature's domains, And peers to the heights where the cherubini dwell, A CLUSTER OF POEMS. Creation, conceding her power to explore, Unbosoms her secrets for ages conceal'd ; And Science, from deeps never sounded before, Uncaverns her stores for the camp and the field. The earth, air and ocean, are summoned at last To swell the key-note of the warrior's fame ; The hills, disembowel'd, give ore for the blast, And dragon-like monsters emerge from the flame. The mountains are tunnel'd with powder and pick, For subterrene armies and thundering trains ; And herald dispatches fly vivid and thick, Outsweeping the winds when the hurricane reigns. While out on the deep a whole argosy rides Of huge ^' i:)achydermata," scaly with steel, Spurning bullets and bombs from their war-beaten sides. As the charger the gadfly that lights on his heel. Far down in the floods where the sea-monsters play, A sulphurous earthquake in embryo lies, Till transport or monitor steers in its way, And a submarine shock tiarns its keel to the skies. THE WAR, 61 The seacoast and cities with gun-metal groan, And stunning explosions roll back from the shore j While the "thunderer" Jove is outvoic'd on his throne, As the bumble-bee's hum by Niagara's roar. Such, such, in this iron-cast age, is the sight. When philosophy wings ev'ry fury with flame, To decimate nations — to blast and to blight. And blazon with blood -stains the conqueror's name. O God ! what an age ! Let posterity tell To late generations the wars of their sires, When Pluto's abhorr'd mythological hell Was mild, to the blaze of their battle-field fires. Yet " offences will come," for the gateway is wide Whose portals arethrong'd with the selfish and vile, That gracelessly pander to i^assion and pride, And gloat o'er the ruin of the land they defile. But justice eternal still poises the scales. Though rock'd by ambition or freighted with gold ; And, thron'd in her temple, her verdict prevails To smite the despoiler with curses untold. 62 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. The demagogue brawls — supple iniuious encore, And cudgels rebound from undig-nilied heads ; The masses are madden'd from mountain to shore, And the cordage of government's torn into shreds. Spurning counsels and cautions — blind, reckless, and bold- Fanatical zealots lash on the affray ; And case-harden'd Shylocks turn blood into gold, While God's holy altars are ravag'd for prey. Thus fiercely and far the red crusade prevails, For crush'd constitutions and laws rule no more ; 'Mid the outcries of orphans and lone widows' wails, A hungry menagerie riots in gore. War ! war ! from the thunders that peal at her gates ; Lifts high her portcullis and pours out her hosts ; Far North and far South, through a cordon of States, The human tornado fills Hades with ghosts. Hark ! hark ! ^tis our bugle that sounds to the field, And our yeomanry's shouts rend the air as they go. On ! onward they rush, without helmet or shield — A torrent of heroes, to bear down the foe. THE WAR. 63 The wild roll of battle now echoes afar, And marshal'd battalions move on to the fray ; Unleashed from their collars, the bloodhounds of war Yelp shrill to the winds, as they haste to their prey. As links of wrought steel they are leagued against pow'r. And strike for their altars, their homes, and thek lives ; The storm-cloud has burst, and its masses still low^r, Yet high floats their flag where the fierce tempest drives. Bold columns through deep mountain gorges are fil'd. To pour like an avalanche down on the plain, Where blood-sheeted foes are in pyramids piFd, And the vulture and eagle are gorg'd on the slain. Thus rolling in storm over forest and flood, The gods might have envied the chariot of Mars ; As massacred legions are bathing in blood. And a war-ravag'd empire smokes to the stars. The Genius of History, pois'd o'er the land Where high Soutliern honor defies Northern sted^ 64 A CLUSTER OF POEMS, Selects from our heroes tlie morally grand, To fix on their brows immortahty's seal. 'Mid the ranks of young Hectors thus wedded to fame, Whose names are enstarr'd on our temple's proud dome — One beautiful orb its position shall claim For ages, to light up the patriot's home. He was born for his country, and, plum'd cap and heel, Was rock'd by the storms of a Texian sky ; His fiery Caduceus well temper'd steel Flashed quick as the hghtning when foes caught his eye. A patriot father, now hoary with years, Had lean'd on his "Joseph," and liv'd in his child 5 The patriarch struggled — he conquer'd in tears — Then gave him to God and his country, and smil'd. Thus he mov'd to the field with a grandeur of soul That startled the coward and cheer'd on the brave j THE WAR, 65 No bribe in his palm and no wine in his bowl — His shield was his conscience; his guerdon, a grave. He stood in the ranks an Achilles in form — Elastic and muscular, graceful and large j A model of manhood in calm or in storm, To shine in the Senate or tow'r in the charge. The throb of Ms heart was the pulse of his men — The flash of his eye was their beacon in fight ; He dash'd over hilltop or bounded through fen With the plunge of the lion when lambs are in sight. At Manassas he breasted the first shock of war, Enrolled in the '^ Stonewall" immortal brigade; He flam'd through its carnage, led on by his star. And sought new arenas to flesh his young blade. That star hung in crimson, portentous and pale. O'er the far field of Sharpsburg, the soil of the foe ; As the war-cry of squadrons rang loud on the gale, And troops roll'd in columns to work deeds of woe. In stern, gloomy grandeur our columns stood still, Like Etna's proud cone when his thunders are near ; 66 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. Until loiig-restraiuecl Yeugeance had master'd their will, And burst through its barriers, in quenchless ca- reer. From heart-throbbing thousands, cquipt and align'd, A hail-storm of iron in fury was hurPd, As if thunder, volcano and earthquake combined To sink a doom'd nation and startle the world. 'Twas a struggle of giants that sham'd Ilomer's gods. Who flung rifted rocks from the mountain's torn side ; Their nussiles of vengeance but green trunks and sods — Mythological pomp, with demoniac pride. But the brow of our hero loom'd lofty and grand, Like Olympus when shaking the storm from his side. As, with saber ui)rais'd in the grasp of his hand, And i)istol unbelted, whole ranks he defied. With a shout on his lip and a blow on his blade. He strode over ranks of the dying and dead ; THE WAR. 67 His i^lialanx respond, as they rush to his aid, But ahis! the pale star from its heavens had fled ! He fell ! But a demon unchamber^d that ball That rifled the heart's-blood of virtue and truth — That blighted the homestead and darken'd the hall Where age had long bask'd in the smiles of his youth. But, peaceful and pure, and in sight of his rest, His soul on the wing for its crown in the sky ; With icomaji to weep o'er the warrior's breast. It was honor and triumph and glori/, to die ! J^o hearse wav'd its ebony plumes o'er the dead ; No pompous procession encircled his grave 5 UnknelPd and uncofiin'd, he pillow'd his head On the soil of the stranger — a friend to the brave. O God ! shall despoilers still ravage the land, Unglutted with slaughter, unsated with blood ? Sure virtue must triumph, and judgment demand The dark day of vengeance — the doomsday of God! A CLUSTER OF POEMS. Salvation may linger, and scoui'ge follow scourge, Till Moloch and Mammon lie prostrate and crushed, But the nation from gloom shall to glory emerge^ And her wild wail of horror forever be hushed. Then sleep, noble son of a God- trusting sire ! Unstirr'd by the tread of huge caisson or gun ; Sleep ! sleep with thy comjieers that waded through blood, Till wak'd to the fame which thy virtues have won. Thy country's now tipped with the Ught of the morn, And the nations but wait for the fall flood of day j Thy name shall then reach generations unborn, When T. Preston Sampord has molder'd to clay. SUPPLEMENT TO " THE WARJ' 69 Addressed hy tlie aiitJior to his long esteemed friend William F. Samford, A.m., LL.D., of Auburn, Alabama — brother of the sainted Preston. But still I would linger to hear from the past The echoes which Memory rings on my ears ; The thoughts which they stir for a life-time shall last. When the heart-stricken household has outlivVl its tears. One son of the group in that ancestral home, The wing'd god of eloquence richly endow'd 5 His tongue like the lightning that plays round the dome, And heralds the thunder that rolls from the cloud. In life's blushing morning he sat at my board, Confiding and truthful and brilliant and strong; Fresh plum'd, like the eaglet, he sported and soar'd, And gaz'd on creation, m rapture and song. 70 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. There patron and protege knelt at one sbrine, And heart beat to heart with the pendulum's truth ; That virgin affection shall never decline, But live as the loves of Naomi and Euth. His heaven-born wtues spurn'd pagod and pelf, And honor unshorn ruPd his generous breast j His noble young heart sought a duplicate self : He woo'd and he won, and the union was blest. A pure, lovely matron now sits by his side, The queen of his household and light of his life 5 The mother more dear than the beautiful bride — For grief finds a balm in the smiles of a wife. Three decades of years with their deeds have gone by, And millious have sunk as the rain-drops at sea 5 The sage and the stripUiig in common dust lie, But '' William " and friendship) survive yet for me. Nay, friendshiph too formal and soulless a name For the deeper and richer and holier grace That burns for an age with unquenchable flame In souls that unite in angelic embrace. SUPPLEMENT TO " THE WAR. " 71 Oil ! give me the glory of midsummer morn, Sufiusiug the hilltops and warming the vale ; And leave to the bats and the owlets forlorn, The moon-lighted landscape, so cold and so pale. The loves of the angels are kindled and tonVl In the glow of the Godhead that beams from their eyes, Where day without night is in splendor enthron'd, To burn on forever in rose-tinted fskies. 72 A CLUSTER OF POEMS, f%t fmln^ KESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BY THE AUTHOR, TO THAT IMPORTANT AND USEFUL CLASS OF MEN, RAILROAD CONDUCTORS. When bards long ago sang the ocean, And mountain and riv^er and plain, They felt not the thrilling emotion Inspired by the thundering train. They ne'er lieard the sound of the whistle^ And steam never entered their brain ; They lauded the " rose " and the " thistle," But never the thundering train. We propose, then, in grateful ovation. An humble, pretensionless strain ; And, enthused by our novel vocation. Chant praise to the thundering train. ***** The Conductor leads on the procession — The lord of his special domain ; THE TRAIN. 73 Ko claimant disputes his possession — He reigns on the thundering train. Neither pageants nor levees delay him ; No claims are allowed to detain j The prince and the pauper obey him, While ruling his thundering train. Though the fields and the crops are in danger From drought, or from down-pouring rain, To both in his sphere he's a stranger, Exempt, on his thundering train. Let the soldier abandon his cottage. And wade through the bloody campaign — His fare only hoe-cake or pottage 5 YL^ feasts on his thundering train. While thousands in cities are dying. And armies are counting their slain, With free ventilation he's flying, Unharm'd, on his thundering train. No Blackstone engrosses his vision — No ledger his eyesight to strain ; 74 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. He guards against breaks and collision, And smiles on his thundering train. The triumi)hs that crown his dominions, The nabob and churl may disdain j But, heedless of captious opinions, lie's king on the thundering train. He rolls over valleys and fountains. And skims o'er the emerald plain, Or sweeps through the gorges of mountains, O'erhangiug his thundering train. His engineer, true to his station, Stands fronting the tempest and rain, To guide to theu^ safe destination The crowds on the thundering train. Would the Cyclops he bridles rush faster % He blusters and hisses in vain ; For he's grasp'd by the hand of a master ! And smooth rolls the thundering train. He stops not when sunlight is closing, And Venus is scepter'd to reign 5 THE TRAIN. 75 But startles the dull and the dozing By the roar of his thundering train. His head-lights are ever kept burning — His rear-beacon shines not in vain j Theyjrs^ floods the track at each turning, The last guards the thundering train. Orion, the heavens adorning, Looks down on the glimmering plain. And a glance from the Star of the Morning Illumines his thundering train. He scatters the wonders of science, To national commerce germane 5 And to lightning and storm bids defiance — All safe on his thundering train. His presence enlivens each nation. Enlightened, devout, or profane ; While multitudes crowd ev'ry station, To welcome his thundering train. He carries the Cross and its story To heathen beyond the deep main ; 76 A CLUSTER OF POEMS, And heralds its fortlicomiug glory, On board of his thundering train. Thus kingdoms and peoples, united By brotherhood's magical chain, Whose lands the Conductor has lighted, Shall shout to the thundering train. When the nations, in harmony blended, Shall hail the millennial reign, And Messiah to earth has descended — Farewell to the TnuwDEEiNa Tkain I THE TRIUMPH OF JOSEPH, 77 BEFORE THE COURT OF THE EGYPTIAN KING. Yon cliariot is rolling in state ! Young Joseph, tlie friend of tlie king, Sits vestur'd in robes of the great — On his finger the royal gold ring. O'er his virtuous bosom descends A circle of Oi)hir's pure ore ; While the shout of the criers ascends, And thousands are bowing before. King Phar'oh thus honors the youth Whose purity shone as the sun ; Whose modesty, wisdom and truth. The monarch's high confidence won. All Egyi)t exults in his reign, While famine and pestilence fly ; And her storehouses, groaning with grain, Yield Canaan itself a supply. 78 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. How proudly the peak of yon mountain Looks down from the arch of the sky, As in grandeur it shadows the fountain That sports through its cliffs ui)on high I The soft silver light of the morning Encircles its emerald brow, Ere the i)easant by chanticleer's warning Is roused, at its base, to the plow. It stands in its lofty seclusion, Where sunshine and peace ever reign ; Far, far from the gloom and confusion^ That checker the populous plain. As the lion the dew from his shoulder. It shakes the wild storm from its side ; While below, where the torrent grows bolder, Wliole flocks are entomb'd in the tide. THE MOUNT OF HOLINESS. 79 Thus throuM ou the heights of devotion — Sublime iu their hallowing glow — The Ohiistiau transcends the commotion That rocks the whole region below. When Sorrow her storm-cloud has driven, And deep moral darkness abounds, He bathes in the sunlight of lleav'n, And smiles on the gloom that surrounds. Absorbed in the rajiturous vision That catches his heavenward eye, He heeds not the whlil and collision Of crowds that are hurrying by. Secure in his bright elevation, He feels, but as mist from the cloud. The sweep of that vast inundation That whelms the licentious crowd. Thence, thence let me meet the Eternal, And reign above fire and flood ! Encinctur'd with beauties supernal, And crown'd with the glory of God. 80 A CLUSTER OF POEMS, (for his wife.) Written by the aathor trhen far from home, on Talcntino's Day, February 14, 1851. Dear wife of my bosom ! wheu, youthful and gay, We met on the eve of our bright wedding day, In the blush of young beauty you stood by my side. And my heart haiPd with rapture its lovely young bride. But twenty-four summers have since roU'd away, And the glossy brown locks have been soften'd to gray 5 A staid, cheerful mother now sits by my side — The matron more lov'd than the beautiful bride. THE BALLOON'S ASCENSION, 81 The i^lain of the grand Champs de Mars is alive, Aud Paris her thousands pours out to the sight, As bees rush in columns, deserting their hives. And cluster in swarms round the queen in her flight. A mammoth balloon hangs suspended in air, Collaps'd, uninflated, and cabled to earth ; The gas-tubes disgorge — ^liuman multitudes stare — And the first inspiration proclaims a new birth. The beautiful globe, as it breathes, swells ai)ace, Enlarges, and rises till rotund in form ; Then struggles to sever the cords at its base. To bathe in the sunlight above cloud and storm. But, bound and engirdled, its essays are vain. Till the master balloonist has sever'd its ties j Then, loos'd from its moorings, it mounts from the l)lain. And buoyant and towering steers for the skies. 4* 82 A CLUSTER OF POEMS, Thus, grand though its outliuc, the Soul liugers here. Coutracted aud crush'd iu Satauic embrace j Nor claims its Elysium, nor soars to its sphere, Till expanded and volum'd and buoyant by grace. Then, spurning its captor, but biding its time. It swells toward heaven, impatient to rise. Till the blow of release from the Master Sublime XJnprisons the captive with gladd'ning surprise. Then, free as the air, to the regions of light. Elastic and soaring, it leaves the world^s gaze ; No sweep of the telescope follows its flight, Engkt by the Godhead and lost in its blaze. THE NOACHIAN DELUGE, In you blue deep where float, iu bouudlessness Remote, the milHonary orbs of heaveu — Graud epochs, congruous with th' eternal plans — In long, long cycles of returnmg years Attend the presence of the reignmg God. Eevolving centuries chiioe their grand events Throughout the mighty frame- work of the skies, Where solar centers move their trains of worlds, And suns and satelUtes in dazzling pomp Their gorgeous systems wheel through space pro- found ; Creation^s glowing frontier coasting far, And blending revolutions vast, sublime, In starry poise upon one awful point I That point, the glory of the Milky Zone — Great Maedler's focal universe* — perhaps * Tlie distinguished German astronomer, Maedler, lias, by along and laboi-ious course of investigation, discovered— as lie believes— what wo liavo long regarded as existing somewhere in space, viz., the stupen- dous stationary central system, about which all the solar systems in the stellar universe are supposed to revolve, iu long cycles of centuries. 84 A CLUSTER OF POEMS, The council-cliamber of the King of kings, Shekinah's lofty antitype, where God Is seen, amid the cherubim enthroned, And Nature's starlit temple spreads its dome, To gather incense from ten thousand shrines. O fathomless abyss of wonders new ! Where thought adventurous reels, and shuns the gaze. Shrinks back to earth, and on her planet-home Finds more than scope to try her loftiest pow'rs. And yet that home, among the works of God How small ! A ray — a pale, a lonely ray — Amid th' effulgence of the blazing skies ! Still, still this minim orb, by birthright ours. To finite minds outspreads phenomena Of startling grandeur — staggering hoary faith. Confounding reason and o'erwhelming thought. The EARTH then be our theme : one grand event In all her time-worn history enough To crowd the present hour. Age after age, Her scath'd and rugged form had proudly borne The dread catastrophes which rudely grav'd THE NO A CHI AN DEL UGE, 85 Their petty triumphs on her marble hills 5 But still she stood to bide her future woes. Of changes wrought by deep convulsive throes Wide propagated from her burning heart* — Unbedding seas, upheaving continents, Submerging moimtain-chains in ocean deeps, And cleaving chasms for her frighten'd floods f — While, bursting from her swoll'n and rupturVl veins Three hundred rivers pour, of liquid lire,| To blight the land and waste the fuming seas. Of these we nothing say : 'tis ours to mark One scene — one dismal scene— where Vengeance rul'd, And guilty millions met their changeless doom. Man — rebel man — had spurnVlthe reign of ITeaven, And fiercely rush'd to scenes of lust and blood. * The well sustained doctrine of the earth's interior or central lieat is here recognized. t These geological changes have actually taken place, and their con- sequent phenomena are i)lainly recorded among the mountain up- heavals, disrupted strata, and fossil and mineral deposits of our globe. t The largest estimated number of active volcanoes now upon the earth's surface. 86 A CLUSTER OF POEMS, A godless progeny, in lapse of years, Wide spread the infecting curse, till, steep'd in sin, The drunken nations toppled o'er the abyss Which flaming Justice opened at their feet. Retmng Mercy dropp'd the final tear, And exiled Virtue sought her native skies. One aged sire, of all the abandon'd throng, Still worshiped God, and kept His altars pure. Six hundred years had wreathed his noble brow With fleecy honors, and his faithful voice For five score past had warnVl his wayward race. The faithful few whose beacon lights had shone In lonely luster 'mid the moral gloom Were gone, and Vengeance hurried to her work. Old Lamech clos'd his eyes in peace — and, last^ The hoary-hair'd Methuselah, worn down With pious labors of a thousand years. Was call'd to rest, to shun the gathering storm. The stage was clear j then why should judgment sleep, Perdition linger, or fierce wrath delay ? They did not sleep, nor linger, nor delay. Earth, laboring to her trembling i)oles, seem'd task'd To evolve the Almighty's desolating curse. THE NO A CHI AN DEL UGE, 87 But let US rise to Contemplatiou's heights, Aud gaze across the gulf of ages past, To realize the horrors of the scene. ****** Behold, how calm the earth ! how still the seas ! Portentous silence reigns j Avhile far aud wide The dreamy air seems bound in Lethean spell, And nature's breathing hosts no change suspect. ^Tis morning's dewy hour. The god of day On noiseless wheel mounts up the steep of heaven, And sheds his purple beams o'er lake and hill. Above, below, around, creation's hush'd, As if in dread presentiment of doom. A pause — an awful pame ! — ^foretokens ruin. But hark ! A distant hum disturbs the air ; Earth's stirring thousands swell the echoing din, Nor mark pale nature's signals in the skies. Her deathlike stillness and her pidseless frame. The thoughtless sons of fashion hurry by. To feast and dance — alas ! then* final hour. The worldly merchant lauds his wares, and boasts The yearly gains his practic'd skill insures. The plodding peasant goads his lazy team, Aud counts his golden harvest in advance j 88 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. While bloated debauchees abhor the light, And, lock'd iu guilty arms, provoke their fate. No eye is heavenward. Lust and Mammon rage, And reeking Passion, stooping o'er the mane, With sounding lash and rowels dipi)'d in blood. Still i)lies his smoking steed and braves his doom j While gory Murder — fiercest of his train — Snuffs th' infected air, and madly waves Ilis crimson poniard as he posts to hell. Oh ! fearful prelude to the impending curse ! Dread spectacle ! A would without a God ! But mark the darkening heavens, the fiery sun, The rolling vapors, and the deepening storm ! Egyptian blackness shrouds the morning skies, And raking whirlwinds run their wild career ! Eed bolts leap thick from clouds surcharged with death ! Loud herald thunders ring the nations' knell, And earth ^' gives signs of woe that all is lost.'' The deafning clarion of the world-wide storm Awakes the angry deep. Then, palsy-struck, The shudd'ring globe upon its axis halts ; And hoary ocean, restless in his bed, THE NOACHIAN DELUGE, Uplifts his giant form to Alpine height ; And, gathering mightier strength, from pole to pole Eolls coastward all his world of waves, and swells The wild uproar of struggling elements 5 Then dashing on, with fearful shock assails His granite barriers of two thousand years, O'erijlunges far their pigmy heights, and whelms In wat'ry woe the founder'd continents.* Old Etna groans, and hisses from his caves, To spurn the intruding tides that climb his steeps And dare his dismal flames. Wild waters plunge In frightful fury down his furnace throat. He heaves amain j his red foundations rock 5 * Infidelity ouco carped about tlio impossibility of submerging the liigliest mountains with the amount of water contained in all tbo oceans and seas of our globe ; and therefore aficctcd to ridicule the Mosaic account of the Deluge. This point, however, has been long since settled, by calculations made upon safe data, in favor of the di- vine historian. The author has here conjectui*ed, that as the fluids and solids of our globe, by uniform velocity of revolution, had acquired a common " motal inertia," it was only necessary for the Divine fiat to check for a moment the usual speed of its diurnal movement ; and, as the waters were mobile, and could not immediately' accommodate themselves to tlie sudden change of inertia in the solids, the inevitable result would be the outbreak of oceans, seas and lakes over their re- spective barriers, and the consequent submergence of continents : a physical result readily illustrated by the plunge of a fluid over the lip of a containing vessel which has been suddenly stopped when in the midst of a uniform and brisk motion. 4** 90 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. And hot disgorging from his molten deeps Whole cataracts of lire, he madly spouts The boiling seas to drench th^ astonish'd skies. Vesuvius too makes battle with the deej), And flood and fire contend for mastery. Tomboro,* thund'ring till his roar is heard Three hundred leagues, confronts the ocean-shock ; And, like a boa scotch'd and nursing wrath, In forked fury shoots out tongues of fire. Fierce Hecla frowns, and from his crater rolls Portentous smoke in volumes through the air j But feels his lurid throne profoundly quake, As revolutionary waves — asleep For twenty centuries at his rock-bound base — O'erleap his bulwarks and ascend his heights. *A volcanic mountain in Sumbawa, one of tlio islands of the Grecian Archipelago, from wliicli one of the most fearful eruptions re- corded in history took place, commencing on the 5th of April, 1815, and continuing until July following ; the explosions being heard to the distance of 960 geogi-aphical miles in one direction and 720 in the opposite ; overwhelming the island with blazing lava, volcanic tufa and ashes, leaving only 20 survivors out of a population of 12,000, and disgorging from its crater solid material enough to form a globe six miles in diameter. THE NOACHIAN DELUGE, 91 Deep, sinuous mountain gorges madly foam With pent-up seas, impatient of restraint, And new-born gulfs are cradled in the clouds. Sea-monsters, from their briuy homes afar. Float buoyant over Andes' proudest peaks, And gambol in the floods 'twixt earth and heayenj While currents sweep in vast gyrations round. And furious maelstroms whirl with deaf 'ning roar, Till, loosened from their icy beds on high, Iluge avalanches, tumbliug headlong down, Are in the mighty vortices engorged. O God of grandeur ! who shall sketch the scene, When outrag'd justice stu^s th' Eternal arm To signaUze its pow'r in judgment pomp % Behold how wide stern desolation reigns ! Confounded crowds of staring skeptics fl^^ In dripping garments from the vengeful floods, As, pouriug fast, they rise to loftier heights. Old age is there — grown lank and gray in sin — But eschews still to die j and clamb'ring slow. With crutch and crippled gait, seeks neighboring mounds, A CLUSTER OF POEMS. In vain attempt to escape its stormy doom. Soft infancy is there, and, rndely torn In shivering terror from the parent breast, Sinks down asphyctic in the yawning seas. The dehige gTows till mountains, undermined And nodding to their heaving base, are seen With thundering plunge engulf d to rise no inore! Ten thousand whirlpools float their millions by, With arms outstretch'd for help. Their x>iercing shrieks But swell the bellowings of the angry seas 5 While cities, bowed beneath the briny scourge, Disgorge their drowning throngs — then sink en- tomb'd. Each lofty pinnacle that longest braves The grand debacle in its upward swoop, Hangs clustered thick with crowds of liuman forms, Transfix'd with horror, as the lawless waves In tow'ring vengeance lash their tottering feet. O God ! the hour has come ! One moment more, And all is gone ! The last lone cliff is reach'd — A final breaker laves the screaming groups — THE NO A CHI AN DEL UGE, 93 The monarch mountain of a thousand peaks Succumbs ! Peoud Everest* is seen no more ! ****** Far eastward! rolls th' impetuous, stormy tide, Till oceans, seas and lakes in solemn league Their billows blend, and, comi^assing the zones, With Uquid winding-sheet invest the globe. The earth is all a tomb, and judgment's sealed I ****** But see ! There floats upon the blue expanse, In dubious shape, a dim and distant thing ! In passive mood it yields to warring waves. Then mounts their crests, and hovers in the air. It nears apace ! and, hurried by the winds, To bold dimensions grows ! Now full reveal'd — * Mount Everest, in the Himalaya range, is now regarded tlio loftiest mountain summit on tlio eartli, being 29,002 feet (nearly 55 miles) above tlie level of tlie sea. t The revolution of the earth upon its axis being from west to east, a sudden suspension of its motion would precipitate the inundating waters over their respective boundaries in that direction, so that the western continent of North and South America would bo first sub- merged by the waves of the Northern and Southern Pacific ; Europe, Northern Asia, and Northern Africa, by the Northern Atlantic ; Mid- dle and Southern Asia by the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Sea of Arabia, and Bay of Bengal ; and New Holland and the East India Islands by the Indian Ocean, &c. ; interestingly corresponding— especially in the Northern Hemisphere, where most geological examinations have been made—to the lino of direction along which the erratic rocks of Europe and the bowlders of the United States have been evidently borne by some great flood of waters from their original beds. 94 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. A massive pile — it moves in kingly state, High booming o'er the fathomless abyss I Amid the opening sunshine, and the storm Kow rolUng back to leave the floods at rest, A gorgeous rainbow spans its lofty brow, Enthron'd in splendor on the bending skies ! On ! onward still it drives o'er deeps profound — O'er Alps' and Apennines' and Andes' peaks — Nor stoops to own the grandeur of their rank. A patriarchal palace stands confess'd — The mammoth wonder of a world inhum'd — Surcharg'd with life, to stock a world to come I Nor helm nor compass steers the steady prow. Supernal Wisdom guides its bold career ; For Noah's household rides upon the seas. Encircled by the promise of his God ! Float on, immortal voyager ! thy faith, Fast anchor'd by the Eternal throne, controls The Godhead's pledg'd and boundless pow'r j and when The fissur'd earth shall swallow up her seas. And liberated mountains peer again Above the ransom'd plains, thou still shalt live, The godly sire of millions yet unborn I SACRED LOCALITIES IN PALESTINE. READ BEFORE THE OXFORD SUNDAY SCHOOL. Ever liallow'd on earth are the spots that were trod By the feet of Messiah, the crowu'd Son of God. As landmarks they stand on the highway of years, To move passing milhons to smiles and to tears. Old Palestine, wasted, these trophies still boasts, That shine on her hilltops and speak from her coasts. No rnin can blast them, no power entomb ; Their beacons shall burn till the morning of doom. The deeds of the past rise again to the eye, As the grand panorama rolls silently by. All radiant with scenes that enrapture the soul. And shall light up the heav'nswhen the last thunders roll. Mount Zion's hoar brow monumentally looms Over decades of ages, and kingdoms and tombs 96 A CLUSTER OF POEMS, Once lustrous with glories by God's temple giv'n, Now shoru of her splendors, but pointing to heaven. Dear Olivet still courts the sun as he shines O'er her green grassy slopes, and her figs and her vines ; Unchalleng'd she wears all her honors alone — For a cloud from her hrom bore the Lord to his throne. Let us weep over Bethany — ^name ever sweet, Euphonious and dear ! — in its lowly retreat; For its glory is gone ; not a vestige remains. Save the halo which history sheds o'er its plains. Blest Lake of the Hills, ever lov'd Galilee ! Thy shores and thy waters are dearest to me. In childhood thy stories were gTav'd on my heart As intaglios on marble, enchisel'd by art. For thy bright, Umpid wavelets once nursed the Man- God, And rock'd Him to rest on their soft swelling flood j And when wild Euroclydon rush'd from his caves. And lash'd into madness thy foam-crested waves, SACRED LOCALITIES IN PALESTINE, 97 iVt a word from His lips, and a glance from His eye, Fled the dark howling temi^est in silence to die j And thy poor throbbing bosom pnlsated no more, But fondly embrac'd Him and bore Him to shore. Little Bethlehem's heights rest in peace as of yore, But her '^ star'' and her " manger'' are long since no more. There the great Shepherd-King saw his first light of morn j ,There his antitype, Christ, for the nations was born. O'er her midnight an angelic anthem roll'd high. And the song of salvation first rang through the sky. In her bosom she cradled the world's infant Lord, And sheltered His manhood, and bow'd and ador'd. To the ear of the stranger no echo resounds j Her streets lie neglected, and silence surrounds j Still the Judean mountains o'erhang her west line. And their steep, terrac'd sides nurse the olive and vine. Though dismantled and peel'd, and inglorious now^ Immortality's seal has been fixed on her brow j 5 98 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. And she bides but her time, till her offspring again Shall revisit Ilis birthi)lace, in glory to reign. When the '^ Red Cross " has conquered, and hell's in despair, And the angel of doom sounds his blast on the air ; When the sleeping redeem'd shall the summons obey, And shall muster by millions to hail the Great Day — As the down-pouring legions of bliss greet the earth, And Bethlehem points to her manger and birth ^ Angelic hosannas shall roll o'er her plains, And the broad empyrean resound with the strains. But peace, joy and beauty are transient from birth, For bliss must be follow'd by blight upon earth. Dread contrast ! when brightness and loveliness fly, And yield w.\} their reign, amid darkness to die. Thus o'er the brook Kedron Gethsemane shone When her garden embower'd her Lord all alone j But estrang'd and forlorn, as she now strikes the sight, She seems left to mourn o'er His last dismal night. SACRED LOCALITIES IN PALESTINE. 99 But i)eerless on earth is tlie last spot we name, Where the focahz'd vengeance of hell shot its flame ; Where darkness at noonday, and earthquake and blood, Proclaim'd human bliss, and the reign of a God. The fame of these triumphs old Calvary won. And honor'd her God through His conquering Son ; While her Cross shall still live in the mem'ries of heaven. And homage divine to its Victim be given. Like sculptured mausolea rear'd in the East, To hand down the fame of their heroes deceased, These evergreen landmarks shall tow'r over tombs, To eternize the scenes which the Cross still illumes. 100 A CLUSTER OF POEMS, How sweet are the notes which the song-bird sings, From his perch in his wire-bound cell ! How plaintive his strain through the parlor rings, Like the tones of a silver bell ! The sunshine streams through his lattic'd cage, And the wild winds fan his breast ; He longs for the mate of his fledgeling age, And carols himself to rest ! All is lonely and still as the night rolls by ; And he hangs on the time-worn wall Till the day-beams shoot from the morning sky And blaze through the old oak hall. Through his homely wicket the day peers in. And reveals no barrier there j For his keep — not closed by a bolt or pin — Stands wide to the balmy air. Arous'd from his dreams with a scream and spring. He bursts from his long night's tomb ; THE SONG-BIRD UNCAGED. 101 With a hymu on his tongue and the dew on his wing, He escapes to his mountain home. Thus away from the reahns of perennial day, And the land of the pure and blest. The soul looks out from its lodge of clay, And longs for its endless rest. When its skies are aglow with the Godhead's rays, 'Tis in vain that the chill wind blows j It exults in the prospect of balmier days, And sinks into holy repose. Now the night steals on — the relentless night Of the lonely and lifeless tomb — Where a star burns not, nor a glow-worm's light Ever gleams on the dismal gloom. But a prince sleeps there, and the death-king flies From the courts of his ghostly reign, As the last sun purples the eastern skies, And the life-pulse bounds again. A monarch springs from the conquered tomb, And ascends to his throne on high ; And as angel millions escort him home, Hallelujahs rend the sky. 102 A CLUSTER OF POEMS. ELEGY ON f life %%m\t^ %tm\^%tt ^^^tt^;' A Tribute of Affection from his Grandfather, the Author, Our sweet little cherub, farewell ! farewell 1 Thou hast fled in the morn of life ; Soon plum'd for heaven, and too bright to dwell In this world of sin and strife. But sudden and loud as the thunder-shock To the sinking lamb in the fold, While the helpless, frightened and flying flock Its motionless form behold. Was the stunning call from the angel world, That sunder'd the ties of earth, Which \\\ four short years had their spirals curl'd Kound the hearts that gave them birth. But the deed is done, and our treasurers gone I 'Twas a loan from heaven, at best ; *Acci