SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI.

Otago Witness, 1 June 1910, Page 70

SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI.

Am I weary, and the morning Holds the burning sun yet low ? Am I chilly, and the mountain Wears not yet his crown of snow? Has the spirit of the woodland Faded from the leafy tree? For the music of the songster Is not as it used to be; And the forest's mighty silence, That once brought m>= '%eti«iiv» Fills my breast with dark foreboding And a strange tnd nameless .i-*.. . And the valley sinks in shadows — 'Haps my vision dees deceive!— And the blackbird holds new sadness In his vespers at ths eve. 'Haps my soul has worn discordant,— 'Hap3 with Nature lost its tune, So long harping on the glory Of the Life to come so soon; 'Ha-ps this waring of the finite In its splendbU'i* does but spell Of a soul to lack all yearning When it bids its last farewell. So long has this spirit wa.ver'd In the bosom of its birth That 'twould seem 'twere now divided. Half in heaven, half on earth. Chilly Sorrow on my furrow'd Brow has left his passing stain, Ard, tho' youthful, 'tis the pulsing Of old age within my vein; And, tho' youthful, see my footsteps Totter on with age's care, And my winter's frost has wither'd All the springtime from my hair. So life passes!—from the shadows Of creation sprang to light; Born to turmoil and to sorrow, And to sunshine and to night. All the world was cloth'd in passion—It was all that life could give,— IBut her garment now is changed, Aaid I long no more to live — Live to nurs3 the growing canker That has rooted to my breast? Live to pay the debt of sorrow In the coin of soul-unrest? No, .a thousand times 'twere better For to lie bereath the sod Than to live like blighted woe Amid the children of our God! Better 'twere to seek the celestial World than stay to ru> this one, Hating imi and all his movements, Hating earth and sky and sun. A<nd thou pircy babe oft clamouring, Hope', how soon thou art appeas'd When the spirit's learnt to languish And the frame is all diseas'd! Mteet it is that I should perish, Knowing all that I must know, Knowing all that I could suffer With my mortals still below; Meet it is that I should perish, For no duty swiays my will, And a ha.nd lifts up to beckon From a heaven-hidden hill; Meet it is that I should perish, As must fitter forms than mine'—■ Fitter thews to work in progress-, Fitter souls to wake divine. 'E'en the leaf in a'l its frailty, Emblem of the summer's stun, Withers in the breath of autumn When its spa.n of worth is run; E'en the mightiest works of Nature Render homage m Ihis rule, Why should I, then, hope exemption From the finite'-s common school ? No, vain world', I cannot grieve thee, For thou render'd naught to me But one transient song that lessens On the chords of memory; No! the veil of Time is lifted From a calmer, brighter world, And the trumpet oall is sounding, And the shadows back are hurl'd; And a halo-crowned vision, see! Indues his robe of cloud And comes gliding down the morning Ir. his music-moving shroud; And the daylight back is creeping From the forest and the town, 'Fore the greater glory shining From the rented And my spirit leaps within me, Madly straining to be gone. Peace, my bosom, ©re 'thy tenant Goes to meet the coming dawn! Peace! for I would turn my vision, Fading o'er my earthly cell, And, forgetting now its sorrows, Say my last, my long farewell. !—Phceni*.