Poems (Hoffman)/Earth's Power and Weakness
EARTH'S POWER AND WEAKNESS
Earth, thou hast grandeur, mighty piles are thineOf human skill and workmanship divine,Nature and art their kindred aims uniteTo build thy loftiest monuments of might,And dip their jeweled pens in floods of flameTo write the deathless eulogies of fame,Where malice cannot one bright line defaceOr envy tear the record from its place:Thy castles and thy crags tower side by sideBy them the quaking elements defied,Give o'er their strife and cease their paltry war,Lay down their spears and own thee, conqueror.
Earth, thou hast wealth, uncounted gold is thine,Jewels lie stored within thy hidden mine;Safe in thy vaults for centuries they have lain,Mortals have striven to claim them, but in vain,Over thy wealth is set a solemn seal.Ah! let the arrant thief break through to steal,Thy jewels still shall deck thy vast domain:Thy gold shall glitter in thy vaults again,Man cannot from thy breast thy treasures bear,The miser guards his hoards with jealous careClaiming them, while he leaves them all behind,He proves at last the truth that they are thine.
Earth, thou hast beauty, varied charms are thineWrought in rich fabrics and in rare designThy galleries of art thy smiles display;Thy pictured landscapes loveliest themes portray;Beautiful are the songs that pierce thy airAnd beautiful thy holy tones of prayer; Thy sun that smiles thee and thy clouds betweenCasts o'er thy features a transparent sheen;From Night's fleet chariot, her priestess paleSpreads o'er thy slumbering face a silvery veil.Yes; in great beauty are thy features plannedMolded by an all wise, almighty hand.
Earth, thou hast glory, pomp and pride are thine,Thy sun of promise knoweth no decline,Thy might is sung by vast assemblagesAnd grand processions offer thee their praise,Resounding aisles thy eulogies prolongAnd martialed hosts repeat thy triumph song;They pass away to rest beneath thy turfOr make their graves below thy briny suri,But other tongues awake the dying strainAnd chant the endless anthem of thy fame;Yes, thou hast glory, mighty Earth, on theeWaiteth unrivaled pomp and pageantry.
Thou hast all these, oh Earth! all these are thine.Beauty and wealth and pageantry combineTo serve thee during all thy long career,These have been thine for many, many a year;These shall be thine, thy jeweled hands may holdAll that thou hast of glory, gems or gold.Ages have sped away on pinions fleetBut still thy treasures glitter at thy feet;Ages may tread again thy golden sands,They cannot tear thy riches from thy hands,Keep them, oh Earth! to thee they all belong.We claim them but we do not want them long;A few short years and we must leave behindAll that we have or hope in thee to find.
But one thing, Earth, one thing thou canst not bind;Thou canst not fetter the immortal mind.The soul defies thy will and breaks thy bandsBursts through thy bars and flees from thy commands,Thy gold and gems are safe within thy graspBut, lo, the spirit slips from out thy clasp;Soars on its sunbright wings to cloudless spheresNor glances backward to thy realm of tears;Chained in thy prison cells or dungeons deepWhere sentinels their sleepless vigil keep,On fearless pinions plumed for holier air,They pass thy prison-gates, nor tarry there.
Consigned to marble tombs, hid in the deepNo plan of thine thy richest prize may keep;The soul of deathless and imperial birthThis grandest treasure is not thine, oh Earth!What is thy hoarded wealth and boasted power?What is thy rarest charm or richest dower,When one bright gem that flashes on thy shoreShall live and reign when thou shalt be no more?