166 



CLASSICAL MODERN POETRY. 



The strife is o'er the pangs of nature close, 

 And life's last rupture triumphs o'er her woes. 

 Hark! as the spirit eyes, with eagle gaze, 

 The noon of Heav'n, undazzled by the blaze, 

 On heavenly winds that waft her to the sky, 

 Float the sweet tones of star-born melody ; 

 Wild as that hallowed anthem sent to hail 

 Bethlehem's shepherds in the lonely vale, 

 When Jordan hush'd his waves and midnight still 

 Watch'd on the holy towers of Zion hill ! 



Soul of the just! companion of the dead ! 

 Where is thy home, and whither art thou fled ? 

 Back to its heavenly source thy being goes, 

 Swift as the comet wheels to whence he rose ; 

 Doom'd on his airy path awhile to burn, 

 And doom'd, like thee, to travel and return. 

 Hark! from the world's exploding centre driven, 

 With sounds that shook the firmament of heaven, 

 Careers the fiery giant, fast and far, 

 On bickering wheels and adamantine car, 

 From planet whirl'd to planet more remote, 

 He visits realms beyond the reach of thought ; 

 But, wheeling homeward when the race is run, 

 Curbs the red yoke, and mingles with the sun ; 

 So hath the traveller of earth unfurl'd 

 Her trembling wings, emerging from the world, 

 And o'er the path by mortal never trod, 

 Springs to her source, the bosom of her God ! 



Eternal Hope ! when yonder spheres sublime 

 Peal'd their first notes to sound the march of time, 

 Thy joyous youth began but not to fade 

 When all the sister planets have decay'd; 

 When wrapt in fire the realms of ether glow, 

 And Heaven's last thunder shakes the world below ; 

 Thou undismay'd, shalt o'er the ruins smile, 

 And light thy torch at Nature's funeral pile ! 



CAMPBELL. 



