John D. Cossar

“ As brief a while as may a friendship live
No one can tell, so soon it dies, or how,
Now as it came, and as a seed expands,
In nurture soon springs up; so sprang, matured
Each time the more a favor in regard.
As first of chance, unsought till then, but now
Let favor choose if she may hold the power
Drawn from the font of pleasure to supply
Enticing sweets, which, though you took, rebelled.
Reigned o’er the scene the silvery moon, which smiled,
Together with the stars, in silent joy.
Of that she deemed no harm, was sweetly pleased!
Neptune breathed silence and supplied the chance. ”

“ And the noonday and the midnight,
And the dew which gently falleth,
And the raindrops and the vapors,
p. 83And the mists on all the rivers,
And the fleecy and the black clouds
Shall inscribe their ready answers,
And with mystic fingers write thus:
“When our buoyant pinions take us
High unto the outer heavens,
Far beyond the eagle’s soarings,
Then we see Nimæra’s wonders
In all spaces that we visit
On the earth or in the heavens,
And, in every form that nears us,
See his wondrous power and greatness;
For his throne is firmly builded,
Rising unto all the world.” ”

“ On this kingdom of Nimæra,
As they often come before us.
So the little stream we follow,
Rising from a rocky mountain,
See it moving onward, onward,
Gathering force, and power, and beauty,
Till it gets a rolling river,
Sweeping onward to the ocean,
Watering many pleasant valleys,
Cheering many a thirsty traveller.
This is like a man who riseth
From a humble life and hidden
Unto power, and wealth, and wisdom,
Gaining large and goodly influence,
Giving, as he upward rises,
Courage unto needy pilgrims,
Help unto the homeless wanderer.
These are of Nimæra’s kingdom. ”

“ And wept the noonday past.
No more she cares for earthly things,
Nor friendly presence nigh;
These gladly now would leave behind,
And now would gladly die.
Dear mourner, is there nought to calm—
To soothe thy troubled breast?
Is there no balm to heal its wounds,
And give thy spirit rest?
p. 194Yes! there is one—a fragrant balm,
A fountain filled with love,
Which floweth ever full and free
In the bright realms above.
’Tis there the weary and the sad
Can comforts true receive,
And there the bleeding heart alone
Its anguish can relieve. ”

“ Weemus oft would take and guide him
High unto a seat of honor,
To reside in noble mansions,
Fame and praise for ever by him.
Thuswise Weemus often acted,
Fearless of rebuke or censure,
And accounted not his reasons,
Dealing ever as he listed.
Sero was the third prince calléd;
He was stern, and fierce, and warlike;
Fear and terror walked before him
In the sight of all the people,
And his bearing was majestic;
Quick and keen his glances darted,
Like a strong man’s arrow flying ”

“ Who in pow’r set King Nimæra,
And who watched for ever on it
With an eye of keen discerning,
To behold if Justice guarded
Every action of the rulers.
Kalim was a prince the foremost,
Who brought people to the kingdom,
Made them of a wondrous matter,
Moulded, fashioned, and designed them,
Limbs and bodies full of senses,
Some with beauties and attractions,
Comely in their forms and graces,
Others wanting and imperfect,
And repulsive in appearance. ”

“ And pomp, and gain, with an unquenchèd thirst;
Whose hand is avaricious, and who hold
No check upon it; but, to swell their store
In overflowing barns, do from the poor
Extort unjust and utmost usury,
Nor scruple have to snatch the morsel from
The widow’s mouth, or leave the orphan bare.
When kings and rulers do for glory pant,
Till thousands of their fellow mortals fall,
In dead or wounded, at a single blow
Laid prostrate, thus to feed their evil lust,
Their satiate thirst which can no limit know. ”

“ No term as base or just, but join thereto
An atom with the motley crowd, resigned,
Of kings, and lords, and people, all as one,
Who hold no claim as critic, seer, or sage,
And spurn the name of Sloth as loathsome to
The ear; who dwell within the pale, and breathe
The air of this delirious age, when pomps
And fashions rage throughout the land, and half
Of all the people know not why they live,
But live to feast on sensual delights,
And deck the body with insipid show;
When they who are not would be great and high ”

“ Of the kingdom of Nimæra,
We will take a tour and see it,
Going unto every limit
Where Nimæra great in power is,
Where he holds his goodly council,
Chief of all the powers beside him.
From the womb of words it came forth,
Out of chaos and of darkness,
First in rude and wild confusion,
Then arranged in goodly order;
Lands and waters, woods and pastures,
And with moving creatures peopled.
First, behold the orbs above us,
Which are ever sparkling brightly ”

“ In this kingdom Sero guarded;
Longed and panted for admission,
Toiled and labored for a passport,
Fought and battled for a title
To this realm where trouble is not,
Till they had become the victors,
And were waiting now to enter.
Throughout all Nimæra’s kingdom
Warning heralds Sero sent out
To implore the heedless people,
Raising thus their warning voices:
“Turn, ye people, turn from evil,
Know ye that the day is nearing
For the long and weary journey
Through dark valleys and wild passes
To the lands of the hereafter. ”

“ Came to tempt Nimæra’s people,
Lead them on to lust and evil,
Taught them how to rob and plunder,
Taught them how to kill and murder,
Put corruption in their wishes,
Poisoned all their thoughts and reasons,
Mingled madness in their pleasures,
Blinded them with show and grandeur,
Gave them longings and ambitions,
That they lost their true discernment,
As a man with wines confuséd
Loses proper sense and caution. ”

“ Thine is the power the unworthy to debar,
To tell them that they are unfit to come
To seek a standing near her honored throne.
Away in sorrow the beseigers turn,
Foiled in their effort, to more humble scenes,
With showers of censure pouring round them fast,
p. 6And shame in volleys flying on to them.
These are thy missiles, and they lose no mark,
But bear sore torture to the vanquished wretch,
Until oblivion hides him from their power.
Stay they to barter, then the task is vain;
’Tis but a weary while they can withstand
The many darts sent with a fatal aim. ”

“ She gives her heart, in many fragments torn,
A piece to each who have her flirtings borne.
Who spreads her charms to every wind that beats,
Or loves a bit with every man she meets,
Of constant love can never be possessed. ”

“ Sero from the hands of Weemus
Took the people rudely, boldly,
As directed by the spirit
Which for ever ruled his actions.
Old, and young, and middle-aged,
Heedless of their years he took them,
Heedless of their power or greatness,
Heedless of their worth or beauty,
Or of want or low attainments ”

“ Raging mid Nimæra’s people,
And it vexed him very sorely;
For he loved the people fondly
Who were wisely formed by Kalim:
Bones, with matter moulded on them,
Fraught with channels, watercourses,
And red rivers running through them,
From a mystic fountain rising,
Flowing ever fast and constant,
Giving and diffusing vigor
Through the many wondrous members. ”

“ The message of the Saviour’s love, till bounds,
For truths so hallowed, every tending heart
In joy. Then praise is sung; a ready part
Takes every voice to raise a worthy song,
Which breaks from seat to seat the aisle along. ”

“ The bleeting lamb, or distant watch-dog’s howl.
’Twas on this scene Lord Henry loved to dwell—
A noble bearer of a noble name—
Lured by the tranquil of a country home
To muse upon the beauties of the land.
’Twas here the castle of his fathers stood—
Time honored and of pleasing memories,
Adorned of nature and of every art
Which the devising of the mind can give
To feed the fancy of admiring man. ”

“ The earth’s greatest boon,
From my presence away.
Hallowed shall be that day,
In memory alway
Most dear unto me;
p. 116For, though I did not see
The angel of death near,
She may have seen
His sable garments peer
From the long ranks of time,
And heard his voice chime,
“I shall come to bring thee
Unto eternity.”
Dead! dead!
Oh! bid
My trembling heart be still.
It cannot brook this ill;
This strange and burdened truth
It cannot bear.
The brightness of my youth
It chills to hear. ”

“ Blessed are they who walk in virtue’s way!
A maid of virtue is a precious gem,
More priceless than the pearl of many seas.
Her mind is pure as snow which Winter breathes,
White and unspotted with the stains of time. ”

“ Here the young are led from virtue
Unto every ill devising;
As the lad who, in his anger,
Curseth a reproving parent
Daily wanders unto evil,
Till his hand is raised to murder,
Reeking in a brother’s life-blood. ”

“ The gladsome peals break forth and warble down;
While through the city every belfrey gives
A glad reply, which seems to say, “He lives!
He lives!” The song of praise is heard ascend,
Raised to the heavenly throne, in one to blend
With angels’ song, from many a cottage rung,
Where on this day the father with his young
Sits down in peace; while, in the pine grove down
The rural glen, a myriad voices crown
The clear-tuned solo of the warbling thrush,
Or oft in chorus to a duet flush,
Sung with the full-piped blackbird of the wood,
p. 136Their notes are joined. ”

“ Weemus was a prince the second,
Great among the princely chieftains;
He was keeper of the subjects,
Took them from the hands of Kalim
Young and tender as a blossom,
Fed the spirit in their bosom,
Cared and kept them out of danger,
Framed them unto firmer being,
Led them unto good or evil,
Led them on to pomp and glory,
Rising out of great achievements,
By these ways to wealth and grandeur,
Scattered on their footpaths wisdom—
Wisdom, knowledge, and discretion,
Evils, vices, lust, and anger,
p. 22As a sower scatters corn-seed ”

“ Which filleth the bosom of hallowed relief,
Making the pang sweet which rendeth the heart,
Soothing the sorrow and easing the smart,
Leading the mind from vain follies away,
To seek a more sacred and truthful array. ”

“ To give. Fair maidens, more than all, ’tis thine
Approval which I long the most to gain.
Ambition bids me rise, aspiring, bids
Me seek from thee a word of favor, kind;
For ye are more compassionate than man,
And give your judgments in a softer way.
If ye, and if the public, see it fit
To render me a judgment good, then will
My joy be full, and I shall strive anew;
But, if ye give opposing judgment, then
I yield my pen to better hands, and seek
No more to speak, and from the quest of fame
Return to calm seclusiveness again.
p. 15King Nimæra. A SATIRE.
p. ”

“ Wild, and fierce, and unrelenting.
To the spreading woods and forests
Of the black pine and the myrtle,
Of the cedar and the red birch,
Of the oak tree and the walnut,
Of the tulip and mahogany,
All in branchy webwork blended,
That the light can hardly enter
To remove the clouds of darkness
In the vast and deep recesses;
Where the lion and the tiger,
Where the panther and the leopard,
And the jaguar and hyæna,
And the tan wolf and the ocelot,
In the daytime hold their parley,
And resort for wakeful slumbers,
Till the dusky hand of black night
Draweth down her curtain on them ”

“ And honor, and revere, with all the love
Which an admiring soul can give to one
Who is the perfect image of his heart.”
And, ere a while, Lord Henry loved, and wooed,
And wed a maiden of a worthy line,
And led her gently to his country home,
And uséd every power to make her glad,
And loved and served her with a constant love,
And had no mind to other than to her.
For she was sweet, and fair, and gentle (more
Than the bright picture he had fancied of) ”

“ Then by the hand she took him, and thus spake
In kind and pleading words: “The laws of man
Would hold and deem it just that, if a man
In time of his prosperity forget
To render to his God a full return
Of thankfulness and praise, then he shall be
In time of his adversity forgot.
But God is more compassionate, and says
That if a man turn from his heedless ways,
And bear a true repentance, he shall live.
Then I, the spirit of your once fond wife,
Come from the realms of bliss, do thee adjure ”

“ Mid their tumults and their tranquils,
As they stand in pomp and glory,
Firm and faithful in their own strength,
Till its frailty cometh on them
And they are completely conquered,—
Broken down in great destruction. ”

“ Unto Sero, and he opened
Wide the wicket on his left hand,
And it passed into the darkness,
To the pit of gloom and terrors.
Then the door was rudely opened
Of this miserable dwelling
By the people claiming kinship;
And they scrambled for the riches,
p. 55And in many quarrels sought them,
Tending to the disuniting
Of the sacred bonds of friendship;
Brother against brother rising,
Raging in a bitter conflict. ”

“ Her brow was stamped with hatred and revenge.
Woe and distraction, from these loathsome fonts,
Fierce as hell-torrents, burst upon her path;
And she did spurn repentance. And I saw
The Evil One from depths of darkness come ”