TALK WITH TIME AT THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR.
By Mrs. L. H. Sigourney
"TIME, old Time, with the forelock gray,
While the year in its dotage doth pass away,
Come, sit by my hearth, ere the embers fail,
And hang the scythe on yon empty nail,
And tell me a tale 'neath this wint'ry sky
Of the deeds thou hast done as its months swept by." "I have cradled the babe in the church-yard wide;
From the husband's arms I have taken the bride;
I have cloven a path through the ocean's floor,
Where many have sunk to return no more;
I have humbled the strong with their dauntless breast,
And laid the old with his staff to rest." "I have loosened the stone on the ruin's height,
Where the curtaining ivy grew rank and bright;
I have startled the maid in her couch of down,
With a sprinkle of white 'mid her tresses brown;
I have rent from his idols the proud man's hold,
And scattered the hoard of the miser's gold." "Is this all? Are thy chronicles traced alone
On the riven heart and burial-stone?" "No; love's young chain I have twined with flowers,
Have awakened a song in the rose-crowned bowers;
Proud trophies have reared to the sons of fame,
And paved the road for the cars of flame." "Look to yon child, it hath learned of me
The word that it lisps at its mother's knee;
Look to the sage, who from me hath caught
Intenser fire for his heavenward thought;
Look to the saint, who hath nearer trod
T'ward the angel hosts near the throne of God." "I have planted seeds in the soul, that bear
The fruits of heaven in a world of care;
I have breathed on the tear till its orb grew bright
As the diamond-drop in the realms of light;
Question thy heart, hath it e'er confest
A germ so pure, or a tear so blest?" But the clock struck twelve from the steeple gray,
And he seized his hour-glass and strode away;
Yet his hand at parting I feared to clasp,
For I saw the scythe in its earnest grasp,
And read in the glance of his upward eye
His secret league with eternity.
—Mrs. L. H. Sigourney.