Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/169

1830-40.] WILLIAM D. GALLAGHER, 1.53 MY FIFTIETH YEAR. I DO complete this day my fiftieth year: But were it not that tell-tale gray hath spread A mantle not of youth upon my head ; And that, forsooth ! about my eyes appear A few small wrinkles ; and that, likewise, here And there a joint is not as once it was, Springy and nimble as a deer's, but does Impede somewhat my motions when I try The heartier games of early manhood, I Should count myself upon life's thresh- old yet : For in my spirit live its olden fires, And at my heart still quicken the desires That moved me ere the fever and the fret Of life had somewhat worn my nature down. Sleeping or waking, oft I still dream dreams, And still see visions ; and the shadowy brown Of evening, as the purpling morning, teems "With spirit-forms and spirit-tones, that lift My soul from out the dismal days, that drift Me onward, onward, like a very leaf. I do, or think and feel I do, behold The chart of Truth before my eyes un- roll'd : And it has been and now is my belief, That only in their sins do men grow old.i Virtues are like perpetual springs, that keep Greenness and bloom about them ever- more : But vices, like desti'oying gales that sweep O'er ocean, and lay waste from shore to shore. Faith grows not feeble: Hope is ever young: And Charity is gifted like a god With comeliness and ardor. Valor sprung An Athlete from his birth, and went abroad For higS'temprises, and is Athlete still : Endurance is another name for will. Which time o'ercomes not: patience, meek- ness, love. That came from and shall yet return above, Weary not in the ceaseless march of years. Nothing man knows or is, but Sin, grows old; And she a wrinkled, loathsome hag ap- pears. Ere half a life hath half its seasons told. Beautiful, beautiful Youth! that in the soul Liveth forever, where sin liveth not. How fresh Creation's chart doth still un- roll Before our eyes, although the little spot That knows us now, shall know us soon no more Forever ! We look backward, and before. And inward, and we feel there is a life Impelling us, that need not with this frame Or flesh grow feeble, but for aye the same May live on, e'en amid this worldly strife. Clothed with the beauty and the freshness still It brought with it at first ; and that it will Glide almost imperceptibly away, Taking no taint of this dissolving clay ; And, joining with the incorruptible And spiritual body that awaits Its coming at the starr'd and golden gates Of Heaven, move on with the celestial train Whose shining vestments, as along they stray, Flash with the splendors of eternal day ; And mingle with its Primal Source again, Where Faith, Hope, Charity, and Love and Truth, Dwell w^ith the Godhead in immortal youth.