Excerpt from Reflections: A Poem Descriptive of Events and Scenery Connected With the Different Months of the Year In eastern splendour may command the day Yet neither sun, nor moon, nor golden stars, No, nor if all the glory of their orbs Was here concenter'd, can that gloom dispel, Which hides the future from the gaze of man! Oh! There is something in this midnight bell Knolling the year's departure, that awakes Tender and serious thought. The sound arrests The ear, but reaches to the soul. There sits Inexorable conscience, prompt to hear, And ready to decide. 'tis wisdom then, Since the past moments are for ever flown, And since the present speed their flight so fast, Nor pause with drooping plumes, nor e'er return To rouse the pilgrim slumbering on his way, 'tis wisdom to redeem the time. And who That turns his vision inward, marking down With a severe fidelity his hours Lost in pursuit of shadows, if not sunk Within the serpent fold of pleasure's arm, And dead to all those feelings which exalt Man from this earth, and lift him to the skies, Feels not within compunction's rising woe, And drops the duteous tear Where is the man, Revolving on the year, so lately tomb'd, That sees not, in the twinkle of an eye, How soon Mortality's fine sails give way, And that existence in her fragile bark Of fancied dignity, when most secure, Rides but at single anchorp - Winds are up, Waves toss, and tempests howl. No friends on shore Clasping their hands in agony of heart. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.