"And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years -- and he died." -- GENESIS. AND was this all? He died! He who did wait The slow unfolding of centurial years, And shake that burden from his heart, which turns Our temples white, and in his freshness stand Till cedars mouldered and firm rocks grew gray -- Left he no trace upon the page inspired, Save this one line -- He died? Perchance he stood Till all who in his early shadow rose Faded away, and he was left alone, A sad, long-living, weary-hearted man, To fear that death, remembering all beside, Had sure forgotten him. Perchance he roved Exulting o'er the ever-verdant vales, While Asia's sun burned fervid on his brow; Or 'neath some waving palm-tree sate him down, And in his mantling bosom nursed the pride That mocks the pale destroyer, and doth think To live for ever. What majestic plans, What mighty Babels, what sublime resolves, Might in that time-defying bosom spring, Mature, and ripen, and cast off their fruits For younger generations of bold thought To wear their harvest diadem; -- while we, In the poor hour-glass of our seventy years, Scarce see the buds of some few plants of hopes, Ere we are laid beside them, dust to dust. Yet whatsoe'er his lot, in that dim age Of mystery, when the unwrinkled world had drank No deluge-cup of bitterness, whate'er Were earth's illusions to his dazzled eye, Death found him out at last, and coldly wrote, With icy pen on life's protracted scroll, Naught but this brief unflattering line -- He died. Ye gay flower-gatherers on time's crumbling brink, This shall be said of you, howe'er ye vaunt Your long to-morrows in an endless line -- Howe'er amid the gardens of your joy Ye hide yourselves, and bid the pale King pass, This shall be said of you at last -- He died; Oh, add one sentence more -- He lived to God | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PALABRAS CARINOSAS (SPANISH AIR) by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH STANZAS FOR MUSIC (4) by GEORGE GORDON BYRON LEISURE by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES COMFORT IN AFFLICTION by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN RELIQUES by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |