A Flash At Midnight
By James Montgomery
The flash at midnight! – ’twas a light
That gave the blind a moment’s sight
Then sank in tenfold gloom;
Loud, deep, and long, the thunder broke,
The deaf ear instantly awoke,
Then closed as in the tomb:
An angel might have passed my bed,
Sounded the trump of God, and fled.
So life appears; – a sudden birth,
A glance revealing heaven and earth
It is – and it is not!
So fame the poet’s hope deceives,
Who sings for after time, and leaves
A name – to be forgot,
Life – is a lightning-flash of breath;
Fame – but a thunder clap at death.
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