Complete poems of ColJohn AJoyce ... . The vipers began to play double,And forgot the bright glance of my eye I 23 THE SEXTON.[From a recent Kentucky scene.] Patiently waiting the nameless dead, The sexton leant on his spade,With thin, gray locks round his rugged head, Oer the grave he had newly made. He thought of his home in a distant land,Where the heather and thistle grow. And the waves that sound on its rocky the storm winds beat and blow. And his eyes were filled with impulsive tears, As alone by the grave he stood,While memory brought back forty years— Of the young, the bri
Complete poems of ColJohn AJoyce ... . The vipers began to play double,And forgot the bright glance of my eye I 23 THE SEXTON.[From a recent Kentucky scene.] Patiently waiting the nameless dead, The sexton leant on his spade,With thin, gray locks round his rugged head, Oer the grave he had newly made. He thought of his home in a distant land,Where the heather and thistle grow. And the waves that sound on its rocky the storm winds beat and blow. And his eyes were filled with impulsive tears, As alone by the grave he stood,While memory brought back forty years— Of the young, the bright, and the good. Mother and father had passed wife, and daughter, and son; And he alone in the evening gray —With his race so nearly run. The funeral train, in twilight hour, Away from the churchyard fled,And the blare and pomp of worldly power Touched not the ear of the dead. And the sexton old, with a thistle bloom. Was found at the dawn of at last by a silent tomb. With his locks so thin and gray. ¥¥ 24. The HxUm leant on Ms tpade THE STORY OF THE SAGE. I met a sage, decrepit, old and gray, While plodding through his last declining day, And asked him as he -wandered down the vale To tell me of his lifes eventflil tale. He leant upon his staff and paused awhile. Then gazed across the sea to some fair isle That met his fading vision through the gloom, Where roses blossom in eternal bloom. Fair youth, he said, my well-remembered years Arise before me now through smiles and tears. And take me back to love-lit, golden hours. When life was young, amid sweet fragrant flowers; My hopes were of the golden time to be. Or like a iull-rigged ship upon the sea — Freighted with all the flashing hues of mind That thrill the soul or deify mankind. My boyhood pleasure was as bright as thine— Came lightly as the foam on rosy wine; But like the foam it quickly passed away And left me to another doubtful day. I fondly thought that when my manhood came Id rush int
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