thoughts."

Were toiling upward in the night.

40

WRITTEN AT BOPPARD ON THE RHINE, AUGUST 25, 1842, JUST BEFORE LEAVING FOR HOME

Half of my life is gone, and I have let
The years slip from me and have not ful-
filled

The aspiration of my youth, to build
Some tower of song with lofty parapet.
Not indolence, nor pleasure, nor the fret 5
Of restless passions that would not be
stilled,

But sorrow, and a care that almost killed,
Kept me from what I may accomplish yet;
Though, halfway up the hill, I see the

I hear even now the infinite fierce chorus, The cries of agony, the endless groan, 10 Which, through the ages that have gone before us,

In long reverberations reach our own.

On helm and harness rings the Saxon ham

mer,

Through Cimbric forest roars the Norseman's song,

15

And loud, amid the universal clamor,
O'er distant deserts sounds the Tartar

And ever and anon, in tones of thunder; The diapason of the cannonade.

Is it, O man, with such discordant noises, With such accurséd instruments as these, Thou drownest Nature's sweet and kindly voices,

And jarrest the celestial harmonies?

31

Were half the power that fills the world with terror,

Were half the wealth, bestowed on camps

14. Cimbric. This is probably a reference to Jutland, the early home of the Cimbri, a Teutonic tribe. 17. Florentine, etc. The Florentines of the thirteenth century, in time of war, placed the great battle-bell close beside the battle standard. 19. teocallis, flat-topped pyramids for worship.