Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE PAST AND COMING YEAR, by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Wave of an awful torrent, thronging down Last Line: Its last and faintest echo. Fare thee well! Subject(s): Holidays; New Year | ||||||||
WAVE of an awful torrent, thronging down, With all the wealth of centuries, and the cold Embraces of eternity, o'erstrown With the great wrecks of empire, and the old Magnificence of nations, who are gone; Thy last, faint murmur -- thy departing sigh, Along the shore of being, like a tone Thrilling on broken harp-strings, or the swell Of the chained winds' last whisper, hath gone by, And thou hast floated from the world of breath To the still guidance of o'ermastering Death, Thy pilot to eternity. Farewell! Go, swell the throngful past. Go, blend with all The garnered things of Death; and bear with thee The treasures of thy pilgrimage, the tall And beautiful dreams of Hope, the ministry Of Love and high Ambition. Man remains To dream again as idly; and the stains Of passion will be visible once more. The winged spirit will not be confined By the experience of thy journey. Mind Will struggle in its prison-house, and still, With Earth's strong fetters binding it to ill, Unfurl the pinions fitted but to soar In that pure atmosphere, where spirits range -- The home of high existences -- where change And blighting may not enter. Love again Will bloom, a fickle flower, upon the grave Of old affections; and Ambition wave His eagle-plume most proudly, for the rein Of Conscience will be loosened from the soul To give his purpose freedom. The control Of reason will be changeful, and the ties Which gather hearts together, and make up The romance of existence, will be rent: Yea, poison will be poured in Friendship's cup; And for Earth's low familiar element, Even Love itself forsake its kindred skies. But not alone dark visions! happier things Will float above existence, like the wings Of the starred bird of paradise; and Love Will not be all a dream, or rather prove A dream -- a sweet forgetfulness -- that hath No wakeful changes, ending but in Death. Yea, pure hearts shall be pledged beneath the eyes Of the beholding heaven, and in the light Of the love-hallowed moon. The quiet Night Shall hear that language underneath the skies Which whispereth above them, as the prayer And the deep vow are spoken. Passing fair And gifted creatures, with the light of truth And undebarred affection, as a crown, Resting upon the beautiful brow of youth, Shall smile on stately manhood, kneeling down Before them, as to Idols. Friendship's hand Shall clasp its brothers; and Affection's tear Be sanctified with sympathy. The bier Of stricken love shall lose the fears, which Death Giveth his awful work, and earnest Faith Shall look beyond the shadow of the clay, The pulseless sepulchre, the cold decay; And to the quiet of the spirit-land Follow the mourned and lovely. Gifted ones Lighting the Heaven of Intellect, like suns, Shall wrestle well, with circumstance, and bear The agony of scorn, the preying care, Wedded to burning bosoms; and go down In sorrow to the noteless sepulchre, With one lone hope embracing like a crown The cold and death-like forehead of Despair, That after times shall treasure up their fame Even as a proud inheritance and high; And beautiful beings love to breathe their name With the recorded things that never die. And thou, gray voyager to the breezeless sea Of infinite Oblivion -- speed thou on; Another gift of time succeedeth thee Fresh from the hand of God; for thou hast done The errand of thy destiny; and none May dream of thy returning. Go, and bear Mortality's frail records to thy cold, Eternal prison-house; the midnight prayer Of suffering bosoms, and the fevered care Of worldly hearts; the miser's dream of gold; Ambition's grasp at greatness; the quenched light Of broken spirits; the forgiven wrong And the abiding curse -- ay, bear along These wrecks of thy own making. Lo, thy knell Gathers upon the windy breath of night, Its last and faintest echo. Fare thee well! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NEW YEAR'S POEM by MARGARET AVISON A SPEED OF HISTORY by MARGARET AVISON NEW YEAR'S DAY by DAVID LEHMAN LINES FOR THE NEW YEAR by JULIE CARR I AM RUNNING INTO A NEW YEAR by LUCILLE CLIFTON FOR THE NEW YEAR (2) by ROBERT CREELEY AMY WENTWORTH; FOR WILLIAM BRADFORD by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER |
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