Fill, fill me a goblet from those dark and silent waters,
Where the lovēd song of the minstrel for ever is mute;
Where the genius and beauty of earth’s fairest daughters
Avail not,-there still is the sweet harp and silent the lute.
Murky and tideless is that black and waveless ocean,
Time may never venture over its broad and stagnant breast;
There dim shadows flit around with an unearthly motion,
And beckon to the fainting souls with promise and with rest.
Stillness is reigning there-Lethean stillness o’ershrouding
That space over which no mortal eye may gaze on and live;
Oblivion alone and Cimmerian gloom clouding
The bowl which broken at the fount no living waters give.
Yet will I pause once more ere I drink of oblivion,
Some sweets may still lingering fling a honied charm o’er life;
Are there no clear gushing streams, no glad sunlit vision,
To chase back from my sad bosom this weariness and strife?
Yes-are there glorious gifts high Heaven deigns bestowing
Over those hearts where affections can never fade and die;
Far o’er this wilderness a bright fountain is found flowing,
And mid the desert waste will some perfumed flowerets lie.
Courage, my care-worn soul!-see fond hope’s rosy pinions
Flinging back the bitter chalice over the folded tomb,
Far over the ocean of death’s dark dominions
Opening a fair Paradise, where Eden’s roses bloom.
(Edward Henry Bickersteth)
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Based on Topics: Life Poems, Time Poems, Death & Dying Poems, Soul Poems, Fairness Poems, Courage Poems, Imagination & Visualization Poems, Genius PoemsBased on Keywords: care-worn, waveless, tideless, deigns, clouding, cimmerian, not-there