Classic Poem

Sinks now the sun beyond the distant hill
As daylight melts and merges into night;
His crimson glory streaming brightly still
Though gloomy storm-clouds gather for the fight.

How fierce upon the glowing disc they crowd,—
The sombre legions who would slay his beams,
Yet bursting through the dark and stifling shroud,
With triumph quivering, shine the conquering beams.

Like Hercules beset with arméd foes,
The Day-god shoots his streaks of living fire,
Defiant as at dawn when he arose
And up the sapphire pathway mounted higher.

But now the giant meets his final doom,—
Fresh hosts of night come forth and vengeance claim,
And dying Sol, enwrapped in hideous gloom,
Sinks lifeless as he breathes one lurid flame.

So struggles man when clouds of Sin and Doubt
His mind assail and blot his life's fair page,—
The warring legions faced and put to rout,
Another enemy his waning powers engage:

That foe is Death, who rides a ghostly horse,
And breathes his deadly vapours on mankind
Till each frail mortal is a silent corse
And wreaths of tears the victor's forehead bind.

But Sol with undimm'd splendour will arise,
His golden brightness once more we shall see;
So man shall rise and wear in yonder skies
A crown of light and immortality!