Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE TRANCE OF TIME, by JOHN HENRY NEWMAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE TRANCE OF TIME, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: In childhood, when with eager eyes
Last Line: Heaven's age of fearless rest.
Subject(s): Time


IN childhood, when with eager eyes
The season-measured year I view'd,
Al garb'd in fairy guise,
Pledged constancy of good.

Spring sang of heaven; the summer flowers
Bade me gaze on, and did not fade;
Even suns o'er autumn's bowers
Heard my strong wish, and stay'd.

They came and went, the short-lived four;
Yet, as their varying dance they wove
To my young heart each bore
Its own sure claim of love.

Far different now; -- the whirling year
Vainly my dizzy eyes pursue;
And its fair tints appear
All blent in one dusk hue.

Why dwell on rich autumnal lights,
Spring-time, or winter's social ring?
Long days are fire-side nights,
Brown autumn is fresh spring.

Then what this world to thee, my heart?
Its gifts nor feed thee nor can bless.
Thou hast no owner's part
In all its fleetingness.

The flame, the storm, the quaking ground,
Earth's joy, earth's terror, nought is thine,
Thou must but hear the sound
Of the still voice divine.

O priceless art! O princely state!
E'en while by sense of change opprest,
Within to antedate
Heaven's Age of fearless rest.





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