Classic and Contemporary Poetry
STARLIGHT REFLECTIONS, by DAVID MACBETH MOIR Poet's Biography First Line: On this grey column - overthrown Last Line: They shall not rise again! Alternate Author Name(s): Delta Subject(s): Friendship; Humanity; Life | ||||||||
I. ON this grey columnoverthrown By giant Time's unsparing hand, Where lichens spring and moss is strown Along the desert land Resting alone, I fix mine eye, With feelings of sublime delight, On June's resplendent galaxy, The studded arch of night. How awful is the might of Him Who stretch'd the skies from pole to pole! And breathed, through chaos waste and dim, Creation's living soul! A thousand worlds are glowing round, And thousands more than sight can trace Revolve throughout the vast profound, And fill the realms of space: Then what is man? It ill befits That such should hear or heed the prayer Lip-mockery of the worm that sits Within the scorner's chair! II. There are no clouds to checker night; The winds are hush'd, the skies serene; The landscape, outlined darkly bright, Is still distinctly seen: Remotest Ocean's tongue is heard Declaiming to his island shores; And wails the lonely water-bird From yonder marshy moors. This is the realm of solitude; A season and a scene for thought, When Melancholy well may brood On years, that now are not On syren years, whose witchery smiled, Ere time had leagued the heart with strife The Eden of this earthly wild The paradise of life. They feign, who tell us wealth can strike In to the thornless paths of bliss; Alas! its best is, Judas-like, To sell us with a kiss. III. Ambition is a gilded toy, A baited hook, a trap of guile; Alluring only to destroy, And mocking with a smile. Alas! for what hath youth exchanged The garden of its vernal prime? Is CareSinSorrowmore estranged, More gently lenient Time? Doth Friendship quaff from bowl more deep? Bathes Hope in more delightful streams? Comes Love to charm the pillow'd sleep With brighter, holier dreams? Ah, no! the ship of life is steer'd More boldly to the central main, Only to cope with tempests fear'd, Lightning, and wind, and rain! Around lurks shipwreck; hidden rocks Beneath the billows darkling lie; Death threatens in the breaker's shocks And thunder-cloven sky! IV. Hearken to Truth! Though joys remain, And friends unchanged and faithful prove, The heart can never love again As when it learn'd to love: Oh! ne'er shall manhood's bosom feel The raptures boyhood felt of yore; Nor fancy lend, nor life reveal Such faëry landscapes more! Above the head when tempests break, When cares flit round on ebon wing, When Hope o'er being's troubled lake No sunny gleam can fling; When Love's clear flame no longer burns, And Griefs distract, and Fears annoy, Then Retrospection fondly turns To long-departed joy The visions brought by sleep, the dreams By scarce-awaken'd daylight brought, And reveries by sylvan streams, And mountains far remote. V. Elysium's hues have fled: the joy Of youth departs on seraph wing; Soon breezes from the Pole destroy The opening blooms of Spring! We gaze around us; earth seems bright With flowers and fruit, the skies are blue; The bosom flutters with delight, And deems the pageant true: Then lo! a tempest darkles o'er The summer plain and waveless sea; Lash the hoarse billows on the shore; Fall blossoms from the tree; Star after star is quench'd; the night Of blackness gathers round in strife; And storms howl o'er a scene of blight; Can such be human life? Expanding beauties charm the heart, The garden of our life is fair; But in a few short years we start, To find a desert there! VI. Stars! far above that twinkling roll Stars! so resplendent, yet serene Ye look (ah! how unlike the soul) As ye have ever been: In you 'tis sweet to read at eve The themes of youth's departed day, Call up the past, and fondly grieve O'er what hath waned away The faces that we see no more; The friends whom Fate hath doom'd to roam; Or silence, through Death's iron door, Call'd to his cheerless home! O! that the heart again were young; O! that the feelings were as kind, Artless and innocent; the tongue The oracle of mind: O! that the sleep of Night were sweet, Gentle as childhood's sleep hath been, When angels, as from Jacob's feet, Soar'd earth and Heaven between. VII. What once hath been no more can be 'Tis void, 'tis visionary all; The past hath joined eternity It comes not at the call. No! worldly thoughts and selfish ways Have banish'd Truth, to rule instead; We, dazzled by a meteor-blaze, Have run where Folly led; Yet happiness was found not there The spring-bloom of the heart was shed; We turn'd from Nature's face, though fair, To muse upon the dead! As dewdrops from the sparry cave Trickling, new properties impart, A tendency Life's dealings have To petrify the heart. There is an ecstasy in thought, A soothing warmth, a pleasing pain; Away! such dreams were best forgot They shall not rise again! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PRIVILEGE OF BEING by ROBERT HASS SEAWATER STIFFENS CLOTH by JANE HIRSHFIELD SAYING YES TO LIVING by DAVID IGNATOW THE WORLD IS SO DIFFICULT TO GIVE UP by DAVID IGNATOW THE RUSTIC LAD'S LAMENT IN THE TOWN by DAVID MACBETH MOIR |
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