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RETROSPECTION.

Wanders o'er the path of light,

Till some higher wavelet, foam-capped,

Transiently arrests its sight, -

So I view the past historic.

Taking in the glorious whole,

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Till some special name or epoch

Fixes thought and thrills my soul.

Lives of great men, glory-crowned,

From the decades grandly rise;

Then, like waves, majestic, transient,

Sink before my wondering eyes, -

Sink, but are they lost forever

In the "one stupendous whole"?

Are their souls but fleeting phases

Of the universal soul?

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