Page:Oregon Literature by Horner.djvu/84

62 the wisdom of a philosopher; so he is reminded that the vast ocean will roll a million of years after the man is gone and forgotten; and he is then surprised—yea, astonished—at himself for having presumed to ask these questions; and conscientious as he is conscious, he hastens to acknowledge—

Again the wave demands his attention; it recedes, but is followed by another; by a third; then by a fourth, a fifth, a sixth; and then comes the seventh that overrides them all. This is in turn overwhelmed by another seventh; and so on throughout the days. Like the true poet, he again drinks in a lesson as a thinks of the Napoleons, the Caesars, the Alexanders, that were overwhelmed by some higher wave in the tide of human affairs; and he teaches us the vanity of ambition, and the certainty of death, as he applies the lesson to himself in these words—