The Poetical Works of William Motherwell/Change Sweepeth Over All
Change Sweepeth Over All.
Change sweepeth over all!
In showers leaves fall
From the tall forest tree;
On to the sea
Majestic rivers roll,
It is their goal.
Each speeds to perish in man's simple seeming,—
Each disappears;
One common end o'ertakes life's idle dreaming
Dust, darkness, tears!
Day hurries to its close:
The sun that rose
A miracle of light,
Yieldeth to night;[1]
The skirt of one vast pall
O'ershadows all,
Yon firmamental cresset lights forth shining,
Heaven's highest born!
Droop on their thrones, and, like pale spirits pining,
Vanish with morn.
O'er cities of old days,
Dumb creatures graze;
Palace and pyramid
In dust are hid;
Yea, the sky-searching tower
Stands but its hour.
Oceans their wide-stretched beds are ever shifting,
Sea turns to shore,
And stars and systems through dread space are drifting,
To shine no more.
Names perish that erst smote
Nations remote,
With panic, fear, or wrong;
Heroic song
Grapples with time in vain;
On to the main
Of dim forgetfulness for ever rolling,
Earth's bubbles burst;
Time o'er the wreck of ages sternly tolling
The last accurst.
The world is waxing old,
Heaven dull and cold;
Nought lacketh here a close
Save human woes.
Yet they too have an end,—
Death is man's friend:
Doomed for a while, his heart must go on breaking
Day after day,
But light, love, life,—all,—all at last forsaking,
Clay claspeth clay!
- ↑ Is captive to night.—MS. copy.