Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO Y... O..., ESQ, by RICHARD SOLOMON GEDNEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO Y... O..., ESQ, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Thou standest well, old mountain! Though thy brow
Last Line: "the mighty woe hath broke the feeble heart."
Subject(s): Aging; Hearts; Love; Memory


OF MANCHESTER.

Thou standest well, Old Mountain! though thy brow
Be furrowed by the chisel of King Time,
And crested with a coronet of snow,
Thine eyes are bright to read my loving rhyme.
Thou standest well, Old Mountain!—thou dost shame
Us puny pigmies of the latter days;
We shrink beside thee, things without a name—
Not bold, great-hearted men, but coloured clays. ....
The years come up unto me where I sit,
And, with the murmur of a distant sea,
Fast through my lonely chamber shadows flit,
And I am dreaming of old times and thee.
For thou wert aged when I was but a child;
Thy years have seen me travailing through youth,
Have seen the boy, fierce, passionate, and wild,
Grown to the earnest Seeker after Truth.
Beneath thy roof in infancy I played,
It was my second home in boyhood's hours;
And there I have seen visions rise and fade,
Whose beauty and intensity no powers
Of poet or of painter could embalm,—
Dreams which have made me what I am—a thing
Whose heart, life-laden, still and stern and calm,
Can nevermore impulse's changes ring.
And thou, Old Mountain, thou hast seen these things
Pass round about thee; thou hast seen my life
Bud forth and blossom; thou hast seen the wings
Of Azrael fan me in the deadly strife;
And thou hast seen me dreaming dreams of joy,
And thou hast seen me waken from my sleep,
And thou hast seen the warm, full-hearted boy,
Changed to a man of purpose stern and deep.
And so the days have fallen thro' my life,
And, looking back upon the changeful scene,
With all its deep and teeming memories rife,
I see dim shadowings of what hath been;—
And 'mid these memories, Old Mountain, thou
Art ever present, with thy kindling eye,
And genial countenance, and frosted brow,
Thy hearty laugh, thine inuendoes sly,
Thy quips and cranks, thine open-hearted glee,
Thy love of nature and of honest truth,—
Flowers twining round the memory of thee
Far down the vista of my changeful youth.
But soon I pass upon my weary way,
And friends, and times, and places, all must change;
And I through night must seek the distant day,
And from old memories my heart estrange.
Lo, voiceless waves break on a silent shore,
Within the kingdom of man's barren thought,
And time flows on a mystery evermore,
And human lives and loves are sold and bought,—
And men are giants in the cause of ill,
And I am tired of words, and war, and strife,
And I am sick beyond the leech's skill,
Sick unto death of loneliness and life;
And I go forth to seek what is not found,
To wrestle with Goliath, and to die;
But thou wilt stand, Old Mountain, strong and sound,
While o'er thy brow the years pass hurtless by.
And when men speak of me in after time,
As one returned unto his mother earth.
Thou mayest look back upon this loving rhyme,
And say, "His woe grew ever from its birth,
"Unceasing, unrelenting, through dark years,
"Till the worn soul hath taken its depart,
"Gone home, besteeped in many bitter tears.
"The mighty woe hath broke the feeble heart."





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