Selections from the American Poets/The twenty thousand Children of the Sabbath Schools
THE TWENTY THOUSAND CHILDREN OF THE SABBATH SCHOOLS IN NEW-YORK, CELEBRATING TOGETHER THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1839.
Oh, sight sublime! oh, sight of fear! The shadowing of infinity!Numbers! whose murmur rises here Like whisperings of the mighty sea.
Ye bring strange vision to my gaze; Earth's dreamer, heaven before me swims;The sea of glass, the throne of days, Crowns, harps, and the melodious hymns.
Ye rend the air with grateful songs For freedom by old warriors won:Oh, for the battle which your throngs May wage and win through David's Son!
Wealth of young beauty! that now blooms Before me like a world of flowers;High expectation! that assumes The hue of life's serenest hours,
Are ye decaying? Must these forms, So agile, fair, and brightly gay,Hidden in dust, be given to worms And everlasting night the prey!
Are ye immortal? Will this mass Of life, be life, undying still,When all these sentient thousands pass To where corruption works its will!
Thought! that takes hold of heaven and hell, Be in each teacher's heart to-day!So shall Eternity be well With these, when Time has fled away.