Commencement Day
By Lillian E. Curtis
The moments fly! I lay my book aside,
For Fancy travels o’er miles that lie between;
How swift, how swift, oh, thoughts, ye glide
To that bright, eventful scene!
Read! study! not in this sacred bit of time,
For, hark! the clock strikes one.
And by the letters I’ve counted in a line,
That oration already has begun.
Childish, weak, perhaps you say,
‘Twere weaker still to let memory slumber.
And forget, on this anniversary day,
The brightest Star of all the number –
The brightest, then the brightest now;
Perhaps I’ve reason for praise so strong?
None, but to twine laurels o’er the brow,
Where Conscience tells that they belong.
Memory, Memory, thy trust still keep.
That sonorous voice rises clear.
Then falls with a cadence thrilling, deep –
Memory, Memory, linger near.
Fain at his feet I’d lay a floral gift,
But Fate decreed it should not be;
But, oh. Memory, thy filmy curtain uplift.
And do thy duty well for me!
Waft to him o’er gentle Fancy’s wing
My wishes for him this hour;
A substitute for the gift I’d bring,
From the choicest floral bower;
For in this distant Western clime to-day
A prayer for him arises now.
That many a laurel and bright bay
May twine o’er that noble brow.
