Page:The Poetical Works of Jonathan E. Hoag.djvu/63

View well the pride of Greece and Rome,
  Whose crumbling columns strew the plain;
The ruined pile and fallen dome
  Alone of all their pomp remain.
    Old Cloud's Rest!

Those conquering hosts, whose rigid might
  The fate of nations once could sway,
Succumb at last and fade from sight
  Like dew beneath the heat of day.
    Old Cloud's Rest!

And thus the empty pride of man,
  His hopes, with vanity o'erlaid,
Like fleecy clouds in Nature's plan.
  Today prevail—tomorrow fade!
    Old Cloud's Rest!

Your lofty grandeur, now so vast,
  Cannot (the Muse would have us know)
For ever in dominion last.
  "How vain are all things here below!"
    Old Cloud's Rest!

1916

 

A Midsummer Dream

I have stood beside the oceans,
  And have looked far out to sea,
While the whitened sails were gleaming;
  And strange thoughts came over me.

I have tasted of their waters,
  While their breezes touched my face;
And I breathed their salty fragrance,
  Wishing ne'er to leave the place.

And I heard the rush of waters,
  As they laved the whitened shore;
And the booming of the billows,
  With their everlasting roar.

Then I seemed to see before me
  Some great scroll of pearly white;
Though I traced the lines but dimly,
  By the fast receding light.

Was I dreaming or still waking,
  In the shadow of the day?
Still I heard the sea's deep moaning,
  While in stupor there I lay.

For it seemed the veil had vanished!
  White gulls flecked the sky so gray.
Twilight haze seemed brooding o'er me.
  Inspiration? Who can say?

O thou great and fair Pacific!
  As I mark thy mighty tide,
Changeless through the changing ages,
  Thou, like Time, dost still abide!

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