Bernard Barton (1784-1849). Poems. I. "Which Things are a Shadow." Alfred H. Miles, ed. 1907. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century

Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

Poems.
I. “Which Things are a Shadow”

By Bernard Barton (1784–1849)


I SAW a stream whose waves were bright
With morning’s dazzling sheen;
But gathering clouds, ere fall of night,
Had darken’d o’er the scene:
“How like that tide,”	5
My spirit sighed,
“This life to me hath been.”

The clouds dispersed; the glowing west
Was bright with closing day;
And o’er the river’s peaceful breast	10
Shone forth the sunset ray:—
My spirit caught
The soothing thought,
“This life might pass away.”

I saw a tree with ripening fruit	15
And shady foliage crown’d;
But, ah! the axe was at its root,
And fell’d it to the ground:
Well might that tree
Recall to me	20
The doom my hopes had found.

The fire consum’d it; but I saw
Its smoke ascend on high—
A shadowy type, beheld with awe,
Of that which will not die,	25
But from the grave
Will rise and have
A refuge in the sky.