I threw another dream-log on the fire

Where dying flames still licked it hungrily,

And though the smoke to heaven did aspire

My thoughts lay in bronze embers there to see;

Within those glowing coals, all ardor past,

The essence yet of every hope and prayer,

All quested glory now on ashes cast,

And nigh below, grey stone to rest them there.

Not long ago a great inferno burned

Within the confines of this darkened hearth,

A conflagration pure of life affirmed—

Now lit as candles on a sepulcher;

That blaze a flicker of its former might

Which once did rage—Oh with a gloried light!