Now vanish all remembrance of the day, Complete immunity pervade the mind, Let fond imagination hold her sway, With rule uncircumscribed and unconfined; Or soaring on the wings of fancy, wind Through mystic realms of interstellar space, Where visions of supernal beauty bind The drowsy consciousness in sweet embrace; But dreamland fades, and morning comes apace. [Illustration: "As it fearlessly leaps o'er the rocky wall From the mountain peaks stern and hoary." _See page 124._] THE TRUE FAITH That faith is true whatever it may be, What ethics or traditions it may teach, Whose whispers soothe the secret misery And mollify with soft, persuasive speech. That faith is true that lightens pain and care, That false, which adds one burden to the load, Whate'er its ornaments of psalm and prayer, A travesty on reason and on God. That faith is true that buoys the sinking breast, When in the throes of some great agony, That comforts the afflicted and distressed, And reconciles the trembling soul to die. That faith is true that when the chilling blasts Of final dissolution overwhelm Life's fragile bark, and shiver hull and masts, Sees but the hand of Love upon the helm. A FRAGMENT The bard who versifies for hire, When no exalted thoughts inspire, Tho' rhyme and metre be exact, Conveys a sense of something lacked; When moved by no poetic fire, He twangs a dull and tuneless lyre. MORTALITY _A Dissertation_ "If a man die, shall he live again?"--Job xiv. 14. Thou man of Uz,-- The query which thy fevered organs framed, Unanswered still re-echoes in our ears. Thy desolate interrogating cry, Born of affliction, grievous and extreme, Bridging the gulf of fleeting centuries, Finds our weak tongues as impotent as thine, To voice reply in accents void of doubt. Though in our breasts awakening response, 'Tis but a repetition of thy plaint, A faint reverberation of thy cry. We peer into the darkness, but descry Nor form, nor semblance, with our bootless gaze; We call and list with ears attuned to hear; No sound is wafted, and no glimmering ray Breaks from that night, unlit by moon or star; Nor gleam, nor spark, nor modicum of light Is flashed from out the precincts of the tomb.