William Baxter Shadows (1842)

 

T H E   L A D I E S '   R E P O S I T O R Y .
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CINCINNATI, DECEMBER, 1842.

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O r i g i n a l .
S H A D O W S .
WE are fleeting. Like shadows we soon pass away,
And the sun will soon set on our life's longest day--
Soon the chill night of death will burst on our view,
Ere we cease all the shadows of earth to pursue.
What is joy but a shadow? and yet we engage
In the phantom-like chase, from our youth to old age;
And the prize which we promise ourselves soon to gain
Is that which the earth-born can never attain.
What is syren-tongu'd pleasure, that form which we seem
Oft to clasp, in the mazes of mirth's witching dream,
When the soft note of music pours forth its sweet strain,
And we pant for the dream-like enchantment again?
O, it is but a shadow, whose glimmering light
Will vanish away like the slumbers of night:
It gleams but a moment--we bend to its power,
And dream we are blest in the revel's wild hour.
What is fame but a shadow, to dazzle the eye--
To urge on the warrior to conquer or die?
It can wake up the harp of the poet again,
To pour out his soul in his passionate strain.
The world of his being is gleaming and bright,
And his visions are teeming with scenes of delight,
While fancy's creations, as round him they throng,
Spring anew into life with his rapturous song.
Yet all we deem lovely, and all that is fair,
Like the dew drops of morning, will melt into air.
As the light clouds of even, which gladden the eye,
All the bright, and the lovely will vanish and die.
Thus the shadows of earth, its pomp, and its power,
All the boast of its great ones in flattery's hour,
With the smiles of the gifted, the praise of the brave--
All are shadows which soon shall be lost in the grave.
WILLIAM BAXTER.      

 

[The Ladies' Repository 2 (December 1842): 365.]

ABOUT THE ELECTRONIC EDITION

      William Baxter's "Shadows" was first published in The Ladies' Repository, and Gatherings of the West: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to Literature and Religion, Vol. 2, No. 12, December 1842, p. 365. This volume, edited by L. L. Hamline, was published in Cincinnati by J. F. Wright and L. Swormstedt for the Methodist Episcopal Church.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 31 March 2000.
Updated 28 June 2003.

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