St Johns College - Yearbook (Annapolis, MD)

Page 158 text:

He sees the smile of no remembered face And feels the rapture of no loved embrace. No more he sees his youthful son in play Lead, with his father's sword, th' imagined fray. All -all are gone l the passing zephyr's breath Stops in its play, and to him whispers Death l Where, then, are thou, oh I glory P Come and cheer The bosom robbed of all it held as dear. What are thy hidden charms, oh l laureled Fame ? Hast ever tl'1ou'been but a shallow name ? Yet what a name l within its boundless sphere The course of ages may be pictured clear. Before me seems a vale, a gentle vale Upon an isle of summer, and the pale, Soft light of Dian twines among the trees That softly tremble 'neath the evening breeze. And gazing there I see an endless throng That through this vale enchanted moves along. On, on, they go, amid the summer's bloom, Thoughtless and happy. Lo l a shade of gloom Steals on them now 3 faint, silent yet it spreads, And settles fast upon the wave of heads. Yet on the throng.in silence ever goes, A human wave that restless onward flows. But now no more the verdure meets their eyes, No more the bed of flowers beneath them lies. Great, blackened rocks lift high a frowning brow Above the depths that darkly yawn below. And now from these there comes -is it a moan ? It is-it is- low misery's dying groan. Why do ye pause, ye foremost ? Have ye ne'er Heard sounds like these float on the summer air ? No sound can chill the heart or sympathies Awake, like misery's groan as slolw she dies. The foremost paused, but slowly onward now They pass 5 the gloom above, around, below, A torturing spirit seems to drive them on 3 183

Page 157 text:

Thy glories l whence have all these glories sprung That have for ages ever round thee clung P Whence springs all glory of this changeful sphere P Hark l now a voice replies, soft, faint, yet clear : The power that stirs the restless human breast To follow glorylr bright, empyreal crest Is but to win a name 5 an empty name To sound a monument through the lists of Fame. Strange is the spirit and the mind of man, And strange the thoughts and hopes that crowd the span Of their existence. In their depths, unseen As that 'neath Etna's sloping breast of green, Forever preys a fire, a galling flame. Which years may strive, and vainly strive, to tame. Deep - deep - unseen, within the human breast Forever lurks a demon of unrest, Whose endless whisperings allure the soul And weigh it down into his fell control. What, then, avails meek virtue's warning cry P 'Tis naught I unheard, or passed unheeded by. Man throws his soul, heart, passions in the toil For glory, wins, and what the paltry spoil P A fancied crown of laurel, which, though green, Fades on the wave of time and sinks unseen. Oh l Fame, thou goddess from whose stars is shed A A glare that dazzles all thou hast misled, What are thy charms P canst thou revive the brave Who sleep within the hero's verdant grave P Canst thou restore the feeble breath 'that's fied, Or calm the dying brow, or cheer the dead P Or to the blackened clime restore the green Of former days and each remembered scene P The hero who hath burst the stream of life In marshaled thousands, turning from the strife I-Iastes to his cottage by the Tiber's shore, But Ends, alas l it is his home no more. 182 . l .,.,,,.,. ' .N-'Ns ,l K 1,11 .. .fimfnnwe l-.t,is.1autZr..flw.ug..L.af

Page 159 text:

Each knowing not the other- all alone. Before them now an opening chasm lies, And from its depths low muttering thunders rise, As if the elements all striving were To burst the earthly bonds that held them there. They strive to go, but none have ever crost 5 The leap is made 5 a life forever lost. Such, Fame, thou art 5 a blooming valley, where The voice of pleasure fills the summer air. But enter there, sad is thy mortal doom, The paths of glory lead fast to the tomb. The balmy fragrance of the zephyr's breath Soon changes to the simoon's blast of death. 184