JT-42-A REFLECTION ON READING HISTORY.

A REFLECTION ON READING HISTORY.

The blazing sun in rapid haste,
Conveys the time away,
And so the ancient ages waste,
And splendid works decay.

I’ve read of ancient cruel war,
That wakens up my soul,
I see the tide of blood afar,
And seas of crimson roll.

What have my ancient fathers done?
How have the sages fled!
They fell in battles lost or won,
All mingled with the dead.

The lofty spires and towers they made,
The grandeur of a day,
Are long ago in rubbish laid,
Like shadows fled away.

The proudest kings who nations sway’d,
Have fallen from the throne,
Death called them to his lonely shade,
And made their power his own.

What is all this pomp I see?
This grasp for human power?
A pomp of nothing! and ’twill flee,
In the ensuing hour.

How long in dust my fathers sleep--
I soon most follow there;
Those eyes shall then forget to weep,
And all those tears forbear.