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OLD TRINITY CHURCH.
OLD TRINITY CHURCH.
[NEW YORK.]
Farewell! farewell! they're falling fast, Pillar and arch and architrave;Yon aged pile, to me the lastSole record of the by-gone past, Is speeding to its grave:And thoughts from memory's fountain flow (As one by one, like wedded hearts, Each rude and mouldering stone departs,)Of boyhood's happiness and wo, Its sunshine, and its shade:And though each ray of early gladness,Comes mingled with the hues of sadness, I would not bid them fade;They come as come the stars at night,Like fountains gushing into light;And close around my heart they twine,Like ivy round the mountain pine!
Yes, they are gone—the sunlight smilesAll day upon its foot-worn aisles;Those foot-worn aisles! where oft have trodThe humble worshippers of God,In times long past, when Freedom firstFrom all the land in glory burst!The heroic few! from him whose sword Was wielded in his country's cause,To him who battled with his word, The bold expounder of her laws!And they are gone—gone like the lone Forgotten echoes of their tread;And from their niches now are gone, The sculptured records of the dead!
