ie«3S.X3S:BS 3«,XK »X« X X XXXX XX X : 
 
 Pi>ii#lpiBBgiHi(iP>iij 
 
Earth Scenes 
 
 SPflC 
 
 H 
 
 H H 
 
 POEMS ^A^ITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 A. MAYNARD LYON. 
 
 NEW YORK ; 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 
 
 73 Cedar Street. 
 
 I'iS^. 
 
 /^ 
 
.b55 
 
 Copyright 1880, by 
 
 MATKARD LTON. ' 
 
 All riglits reserved. 
 
 PrlntliiK llouBe of 
 
 C. A. COFKIN & KOOKUH. 
 85«i JnlmSt.. N, Y. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 All Original. Designed expressly for this Volume. 
 
 Flight of Birds in Grief 
 
 My Body 's Old ..... 
 
 The Dbad of Every Age 
 
 For fain he 'd Reap .... 
 
 And satisfy his Soul with good 
 
 A thoughtful Child 
 
 Adam ...... 
 
 All kinds in Earth and Sea 
 
 Hiding from God after the First Transgression 
 
 Eve ....... 
 
 The First Choir .' . . . 
 
 Man's First Employments 
 
 Worship — Sacrifice — Adam and his Family . 
 Rest ...... 
 
 Nuptial Vows ..... 
 
 Aurelian's Triumph .... 
 
 Pride ...... 
 
 Joy ...... 
 
 Death ...... 
 
 Tomb ...... 
 
 Bride 
 
 9 
 13 
 17 
 23 
 25 
 29 
 
 35 
 37 
 39 
 43 
 45 
 47 
 49 
 51 
 S3 
 57 
 59 
 6r 
 
 63 
 65 
 69 
 
PROEM. 
 
 Retire, O Man ! review thy history ! 
 
 Then come thou forth and the great present view — 
 
 Then view the ages past — their silence feel. 
 
 Then of th' uncertain futtire think and muse 
 
 Till fhon therein canst see a something new. 
 
 O, seek for thoughts that inspiration lend ; 
 For thoughts that one can think an hundred times. 
 Ah ! thoughts that lift Man to celestial climes, 
 And make his face to shine with love and grace 
 Midst H e avert s great hosts — those hosts that dwell in space, 
 A nd work for God— that God zuho holds all sway. 
 O, see the spirit land, and God. and saints ; 
 And faithful Man awaiting happiness — 
 Then be content and wait salvations day. 
 
MAN AND HISTORY IMAGED. 
 
 At first God made the Universe. — Tiie Sun 
 
 And Moon and Stars appeared in heaven ; the Earth 
 
 He decked ; then life He made in numberless forms, 
 
 Including Man's unfathomable Soul. Then Man 
 
 From dust he made. That soul and clay unite. 
 
 Man breathes and speaks and moves ; — with God communes ; 
 
 With joy, then views his paradisial home. 
 
 But soon he 's lonesome, lonely ; though by God's 
 Free gift, the world is his. God opes Adam's side, 
 And takes a rib, of which he woman forms. 
 And hence this wondrous twain are one — one bone, 
 One ffesh. 
 
 All kinds in earth and sea their kinds 
 Shall bear. 
 
 God then freed man to use all things 
 Save one, but sternly that forbade. Yet this 
 He took and ate — then hid. Sin, Hate, and Shame 
 Then hid — still hide. 
 
 All creatures fell, and things 
 Themselves. Blight came, fell on them all. Man's heart 
 Grew sad ; ached then, aches now. Sun, Moon, and Stars 
 Wept sombre light : Heaven wept, Earth quaked, and soon 
 
MAN AND HISTORY IMAGED. 
 
 Gloomed Silence reigned. Yet man recovered, rose, 
 And saw the wreck ; but soon was soothed, forgot 
 His loss and fall : engaged in work ; for work 
 He must, or perish — die. 
 
 For simple food 
 And clothes worked he for his lone spouse. Vile blood 
 Grew in all things. Its marks then showed — still show. 
 Adam ofttimes with offspring joined in song, 
 In labor, worship, rest, and nuptial vows — 
 Sweet vows. Birds oft flew near, perched on the boughs, 
 Both high and low, sang spousals, chose their mates, 
 And flew away. Man's race, from then till now. 
 Have pledged in marriage troth, and spousals sung — 
 They've toiled ; they've made things stately, grand and good. 
 Their wondrous works, both new and old, are seen 
 All round. 
 
 Th' unending mind views childhood days, 
 Meridian days, and darksome days; common 
 And written laws, and its own history. 
 It backward delves to the beginning. 
 It views all works : — those in continuance. 
 And those in dust ; Man's efforts, hopes, and woes ; 
 His triumphs, pride, and joy ; His death, and tomb ; 
 And the soul's flight to God, its source ; ripened 
 In sin for woe ; else in good works for joy. 
 With might and rectitude work, then, O man ! 
 That thou may'st have vast realms in happiness. 
 
 Lo, now all mortal things approach their end ! 
 Eternal day is breaking ; sweet day, sweet ! 
 O golden bells, ring loud, ring fast ! O fill 
 
MAN AND HISTORY IMAGED. 
 
 The world with heavenly cadences ! Wake ! Call 
 The saints to bliss immortal ! Wake, Love, Wake ! 
 O Bride ! arise and deck thyself in white ; 
 For God cometh in his great chariot 
 Of burnished gold, alighting up the heavens, 
 Midst diamond suns that lighten ; — flash more than 
 The Orient beams that wake the day, to take 
 Thyself, Beloved of Heaven ! in Spousals 
 To His triumphal home, among the angels. 
 
 Anon, and God is seen among His saints ! 
 
 The elements weep loud in ecstasies : 
 
 In chariots of fire, and on heaven's steeds, 
 
 The universal Loves descend to earth — 
 
 In God-like raptures sing sweet spousals. 
 
 To gladden Man, and fill him with Heaven's love 
 
 And joyousness— for woes and griefs are ended ! 
 
 And God lifts up his Saints, to wear love-laurels, 
 
 And in them dwell with him forever. 
 
ETERNITY. 
 
 Lo, in man's fall, hills, vales and plains are grieved ! 
 Numberless birds fly from the direful scene — 
 Sing plaints before the sun. 
 
ETERNITY. \ 
 
 In grief he hears 
 Their mournful lays, then pales his light, since Man, 
 God's noblest work, and the whole world, should die ! 
 Then backward looks, in his eternal rounds. 
 And views all things with joy ; now forward looks 
 In his unending course, midst tears and joy. 
 Because that sin with good must now abound. 
 And man in joy and grief must alternate — 
 Grow old and die. 
 
 The infinite past and future 
 Resemble circles, and contain all things ! 
 The Future 's like the Past ; e'en one they are. 
 And that great one 's th' eternal Now ! In heaven 
 Now 's alway ; alway is now ! Hence man when there 
 Shall see all things, shall be like God, and "see 
 Him as he is ! " All of his works he then 
 Must see ; else he '11 not " see him as he is ! " 
 This sight makes heaven — is heaven ! Makes man like God, 
 And, joined with love, 't will charm the soul forever. 
 God's likeness this confers perpetually ! 
 All things will then be man's, and man himself 
 A part of God. That oneness will be one 
 For aye : a wondrous mystery 's this ! 
 
 But time 
 Rolls on, and great minds grow — strange truths to grasp. 
 And tell to marvelous man. Light hastes the time 
 When man shall see high Heaven and God, and thus 
 Have joy in full ; Heaven's God and Heaven embrace 
 All space ; and man shall know them — in them dwell, 
 Beyond the tomb, in their immeasurebleness ! 
 
E TERNITY. 
 
 So man resembles God ; but God in His 
 
 Creation is both God and man united ! 
 
 God's infinite light from man now 's hid, and yet 
 
 His grace and love are felt. These shadow light — 
 
 That Light which makes all true souls great and wise. 
 
s' —s^ -~<r ^ff^ 
 
 ANIMA SEMPERJUVENIS. 
 
 My body 's old, my days are sliding off, 
 My eyes are dim and partly closed ; and in 
 This lone, this downward dark mysterious path 
 
ANIMA SEMPERJUVENIS. 15 
 
 In which I faster, faster, journey on. 
 
 Unnumbered brothers have I in the train ! 
 
 Aspiringly they walk before, behind, 
 
 And by my side ! Yet not a living soul 
 
 Can give me aid or sympathy when I 
 
 The mystic river cross ! Alone and lonely I 
 
 Must blindly go, unless inviting lights 
 
 Appear beyond, or Heavenly messengers 
 
 Approach, and tell me of the better land, 
 
 A land where I eternally can dwell. 
 
 And show some worthy treasures of my zeal ! 
 
 Each must this journey go, though fearfully, 
 Regretting all his wicked thoughts and deeds, 
 And yearning for some more repenting time, 
 That better hope for future life may come. 
 Among the brave the strong and hopeful youth 
 I ever see decaying, dying men ; 
 Their works and ways, both good and bad, I view. 
 Some of their oldest works are tumbling down ; 
 Some wholly hug the ground ; some are but dust, 
 Which dust hath wedded other sleeping dust. 
 
 The forests broad, and other natural growth 
 Of nature's power, I likewise view. These all 
 In turn shall die ! 
 
AN/MA SEMPERJUVENIS. ^y 
 
 The dead of every age 
 Rest on, and in the ground. The tottering, lame, 
 And old, make lonesome shadows here and there ; 
 
ANIMA SEMPERJUVENIS. 1-9 
 
 Such shadows older, smaller, fainter grow — 
 
 In time they wholly fade away ; for their 
 
 Creators droop, languish, decay, fall down, 
 
 And waste ; when lo ! their forms are wholly gone. 
 
 Like other dust they form a part of earth. 
 
 But Nature's boundless spirit grows not old ; 
 
 And hence their cast-off dust it gives to form 
 
 Some junior animals and plants. These then, 
 
 Shall grow and bloom, make glad their kin and friends ; 
 
 Good things enjoy, and ghostly shadows see : 
 
 Then take their last sad lot, with myriads 
 
 Of all the ages past, in shrouded death. 
 
 Yet though man's body 's old, and weak, and dim 
 His eyes, and partly closed ; his soul that speaks 
 Infallibly, but gently, in the heart — 
 Oft struggling there to guide his ways aright — 
 And sees and feels, believes and hopes so much, — 
 Shall never die, but bud perpetually, 
 And bloom resplendently. How can the soul 
 Grow old and yet not fade ! at three score 'tis 
 As youthful as at ten. All fading things 
 In time shall die, decay ; but that which yearns 
 For life must live. Else why should faith and hope 
 So fill the soul ? Or nature's spirit ever do 
 Her perfect work, or man so work and strive 
 To shed immortal fame ? 
 
 Spirit divine ! 
 Forgive man's unbelief ; and by thy light 
 And love draw him to Thee, that he high heaven 
 And God may see ; repent, believe, and cleave 
 
20 AN IMA SEMPERJUVENIS. 
 
 To Him ! Thou God, thy grace and love on man, 
 In this brief hfe bestow ! 
 
 Some souls are as 
 The morning of creation ; and they .fly 
 From globe to globe, and to vast starry worlds, 
 All natural wonders to explore, and love, 
 As though they had an universal home. 
 But when through death's dark door great souls arise 
 In perfect life, unnumbered works they'll do. 
 As semblances and shadows are all these 
 Of the incomprehensible Universe. 
 Man's soul now 's lifted up, and filled with 
 Amazing sights and thoughts of vastest works ; 
 As though he yet were in the bloom of youth ; 
 Nay, only dreamed of pressing on his way. 
 Toward deeper, grander, sterner works of life. 
 That hold, absorb, and grow the greatest souls 
 For greatest deeds — which deeds are theirs to do. 
 
 How good it is that man doth sometimes feel 
 His youthful heart begin to beat again. 
 With all its growing hopes and zeal and love ; — 
 To run and babble like a mountain brook. 
 For then he feels those sweet and charming things 
 That captivate and chain the yearning mind. 
 And more and more unfold his soul, and fill 
 It with a power to do the noblest deeds. 
 Deeds good and noble ever follow him, — 
 Riches they give which satisfy the soul : 
 And will, though the great universe should fail. 
 
 O childhood thouo:hts ! Ye fill the heart and soul ; 
 
ANIMA SEMPERJUVENIS. 21 
 
 But when kind nature's richest scenes engage 
 A childlike heart, that heart they melt with love ; 
 Such heart then hath no power to do bad deeds, 
 But doth as truly serve a faithful God 
 As lifeless things do natural laws obey. 
 
 But to the choicest youth how great this world appears. 
 And how majestically it roUeth on. 
 How anxiously he waits till he his own 
 Broad fields can sow ; — 
 
ANIMA SEMPERJUVENIS. 
 
 23 
 
 For fain he'd reap, and satisfy 
 
X 
 
 o 
 o 
 
AN IMA SEMPERJUVENIS. 27 
 
 Else by his aptitude 
 So teach mankind, that bright new hght 
 Should fill the land, and make it eminent. 
 
AN IMA SEMPERJUVENIS. 
 
 29 
 
 A thoughtful child doth sometimes lift his eyes, 
 And his great heart, up to the high blue sky. 
 And muse, and think he sees his picture there. 
 
ANIMA SEMPERJUVENIS. 31 
 
 And Heaven's pictures and happiness complete — 
 
 Eternal happiness for which he hopes ! 
 
 What ! Is he imaged in high heaven already? 
 
 Strange thought is that, stranger the fact, but strange 
 
 As 'tis his shining picture's there ! and he 
 
 By Heaven's great hosts is known — is loved ; else strange 
 
 It is that God himself abides with man. 
 
 In Heaven a righteous man his semblance sees, 
 
 E'en while on earth he lives as other men. 
 
 When there his heart and soul are centralized ; 
 
 Entranced then, his soul with joy o'erflows. 
 
 This joy so opes the mind t' immensity, 
 
 As to enlarge his every thought ; vast strength 
 
 To give to it, and action buoyant, 
 
 Though grief at times reigns in each dying thing. 
 
 The world : how great and bright and good it is ! 
 Inspiring things : Oh how they're scattered round ; 
 And how their marvels ope and thrill my soul ! 
 Thoughts permeate my substance, give it joy — 
 Exhalted joy, and inexpressible. 
 E'en from the heart quite to the finger ends. 
 And yet the soul immortal is all one has ; 
 The rest is of the earth ; 'tis only clay. 
 
 Some souls in time have marvelous power to see 
 Prophetic things, as well as wonders past. 
 Sublimely pregnant is the rolling time 
 With changing things, and things that never change. 
 What are the things that change, and fall from view, 
 But earth-born ones, conceived and reared to serve 
 Their day upon the stage of life — and die ! 
 
32 ANIMA SEMPERJUVENIS. 
 
 On every hand their countless hosts survey ; 
 Their pride, their graces, and their wonders view, 
 Till age doth show their failing, dying power ; 
 Then by them judge of every mortal thing. 
 
 Man, mourn not for thy frail and changing clay, 
 For thou'st much more than clay to nurture and adorn,- 
 Thy gem 's a soul that cannot droop and die. 
 All good souls brighter grow ; they give 
 Effulgent and expanding lights, and leave 
 Their blazes pure in all their wakes. Such lights 
 No mortal eye can see ; yet they are felt. 
 They aid to make men's earthly homes all sweet 
 And joyous, and right fit abodes for heaven's 
 Ministering spirits, sent to such as shall 
 Be heirs of light, to teach and hold them up. 
 And finally conduct them to the sky. 
 Where works immortal and innumerable 
 So beautify, exalt, and dignify 
 The scene, that Diety, who reigns o'er all, 
 Is in them truly known. And when to Him 
 His hosts lift up their eyes, they're lost in love. 
 Adoring acts, and in seraphic lays. 
 
MAN AND HISTORY IMAGED. 
 
 At first God made the Universe.— The Sun 
 
 And Moon and Stars appeared in heaven ; the Earth 
 
 He decked ; then life He made in numberless forms, 
 
 Including Man's unfathomable Soul. Then Man 
 
 From dust he made. That soul and clay unite. 
 
 Man breathes and speaks and moves ;— with God communes 
 
 With joy, then views his paradisial home. 
 
MAN AND HISTORY IMAGED. 
 
 35 
 
 But soon he 's lonesome, lonely ; though by God's 
 Free gift, the world is his. God opes Adam's side. 
 And takes a rib, of which he woman forms. 
 And hence this wondrous twain are one — one bone. 
 One flesh. 
 
""MAN AND HISTORY IMAGED. 
 
 n 
 
 All kinds in earth and sea their kinds 
 Shall bear. 
 
 God then freed man to use all things 
 Save one, but sternly that forbade. 
 
MAN AND HISTORY IMAGED. 
 
 39 
 
 Yet this 
 He took and ate — then hid. Sin, Hate, and Shame 
 Then hid — still hide. 
 
MA N A ND HIS TOR Y IMA GED. 4 1 
 
 All creatures fell, and things 
 Themselves. Blight came, fell on them all. Man's heart 
 Grew sad ; ached then, aches now. Sun, Moon, and Stars 
 Wept sombre light : Heaven wept. Earth quaked, and soon 
 Gloomed Silence reigned. Yet man recovered, rose. 
 And saw the wreck ; but soon was soothed, forgot 
 His loss and fall : engaged in work ; for work 
 He must, or perish — die. 
 
MAN AND HISTORY IMAGED. 
 
 43 
 
 3^- A 
 
 For simple food 
 And clothes worked he for his lone spouse. Vile blood 
 Grew in all things. Its marks then showed — still show. 
 
MAN AND HISTORY IMAGED. 
 
 45 
 
 Adam ofttimes with offspring joined in song, 
 
MAN AND HISTORY IMAGED. 
 
 49 
 
 Worship, 
 
MAN AND HISTORY IMAGED. 
 
 51 
 
 Rest, 
 
MAN AND HISTORY IMAGED. 
 
 53 
 
 And nuptial vows- 
 
MAN AND HISTOR Y IMA GED. 55 
 
 Sweet vows. Birds oft flew near, perched on the boughs, 
 Both high and low, sang spousals, chose their mates. 
 And flew away. Man's race, from then till now, 
 Have pledged in marriage troth, and spousals sung— 
 They've toiled ; they've made things stately, grand and good. 
 Their wondrous works, both new and old, are seen 
 All round. 
 
 Th' unending mind views childhood days. 
 Meridian days, and darksome days ; common 
 And written laws, and its own history. 
 It backward delves to the beginning. 
 It views all works : — those in continuance, 
 And those in dust ; Man's efforts, hopes, and woes ; 
 
K 
 
 
MAN AND HISTORY IMAGED. 
 
 61 
 
 And joy ; 
 
MAN AND HISTORY IMAGED. 
 
 63 
 
 His death, 
 
MAN AND HISTORY IMAGED. 
 
 65 
 
 And tomb ; 
 
MAN AND HISTORY IMAGED. 67 
 
 And the soul's flight to God, its source ; ripened 
 In sin for woe ; else in good works for joy. 
 With might and rectitude work, then, O man ! 
 That thou may'st have vast realms in happiness. 
 
 Lo, now all mortal things approach their end ! 
 Eternal day is breaking ; sweet day, sweet ! 
 O golden bells, ring loud, ring fast ! O fill 
 The world with heavenly cadences ! Wake ! Call 
 The saints to bliss immortal ! Wake, Love, Wake ! 
 
MAN AND HISTORY IMAGED. 
 
 69 
 
 O Bride ! arise and deck thyself in white 
 
MA N A ND HIS TOR Y IMA GED. 7 1 
 
 For God cometh in his great chariot 
 
 Of burnished gold, alighting up the heavens, 
 
 Midst diamond suns that lighten ; — flash more than 
 
 The Orient beams that wake the day, to take 
 
 Thyself, Beloved of Heaven ! in Spousals 
 
 To His triumphal home, among the angels. 
 
 Anon, and God is seen among His saints ! 
 
 The elements weep loud in ecstasies : 
 
 In chariots of fire, and on heaven's steeds. 
 
 The universal Loves descend to earth — 
 
 In God-like raptures sing sweet spousals. 
 
 To gladden Man, and fill him with Heaven's love 
 
 And joyousness — for woes and griefs are ended ! 
 
 And God lifts up his Saints, to wear love-laurels, 
 
 And in them dwell with him forever. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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