Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/116

 100 OTWAY CURRY, [1830-40. Each wandering bark and pathway dim Along the passing billow's brim. And soon the winds shall waft thee Among the groves that lave The emerald of their bending boughs, In life's eternal wave, And round thee shall the music rise Of happier worlds and calmer skies. KINGDOM COME.* I DO not believe the sad story Of ages of sleep in the tomb ; I shall pass far away to the glory And grandeur of Kingdom Come. The paleness of death, and its stillness, May rest on my brow for awhile ; And my spirit may lose in its chillness The splendor of hope's happy smile ; But the gloom of the grave will be tran- sient. And light as the slumbers of worth ; And then I shall blend with the ancient And beautiful forms of the earth. Through the cUmes of the sky, and the bowers Of bliss, evermore I shall roam. Wearing crowns of the stars and the flowers That glitter in Kingdom Come. The friends who have parted, before me. From life's gloomy passion and pain, Wlien the shadow of death passes o'er me, Will smile on me fondly again. was written while the author, yet a young man, was on a isit to the South. He was working as a journeyman car- penter. A fellow- workman had become enamored of a {■'outhern beauty, and sought her hand in marriage. He had a rival. The lass was partial to the carpenter; hut her father was not decided in his preference of the suitors. He was a great lover of poetry, and he told the rivals that whichever wrote the best poem should have the girl. The carpenter was no^, a poet. He appealed to his fellow-work- Their voices were lost in the soundless ♦ Retreats of their endless home, But soon we shall meet in the boundless Effulgence of Kingdom Come. THE ARMIES OF THE EVE. Not in the golden morning. Shall faded forms return ; For languidly and dimly then The lights of memory burn: Nor when the noon unfoldeth Its sunny light and smile, For these unto their bright repose The wandering spirits wile : But when the stars are wending Their radiant way on high. And gentle winds are whispering back The music of the sky; Oh, then those starry millions Their streaming banners weave. To marshal on their wildering way The Armies of the Eve ; The dim and shadowy armies Of our unquiet dreams, Wliose footsteps bi-ush the feathery feni. And print the sleeping sti*eams. We meet them in the calmness Of high and holier climes ; We greet them with the blessed names Of old and happier times ; man, Mr. Curry, and borrowed •' Kingdom Come. " When the father read the poems, he was more seriously puzzled than before. Both were so good he could not decide be- tween them. The carpenter thought there was something familiar in his rival's lines, and so he told Sir. Curry, who urged him to obtain a copy. By stratagem he succeeded : and Mr. Curry detected in the rival poem a plagiarism from Mrs. Hcmans. The theft was exposed : and of course the carpenter won the girl. After the knot was tied, he
 * We are authentically informed that " Kingdom Come"
 * old the joke. — Genius of the West, July, 1855.