Fugitive Poetry. 1600–1878/The Press
The Press.
Thoughts flit and flutter through the mind,
As o'er the waves the shifting wind;
Trackless and traceless is their flight
As falling stars of yesternight,
Or the old tidemarks on the shore
Which other tides have rippled o'er,
Yet art, by Genius trained and taught,
Arrests—records the fleeting thought,
Stamps on the minute or the hour
A lasting, an eternal power,
And to minds passing shadows gives
An influence that for ever lives.
But mightiest of the mighty means
On which the arm of Progress leans,
Man's noblest mission to advance,
His woes assuage, his weal enhance,
His rights enforce, his wrongs redress,
Mightiest of mighty is the Press.
As o'er the waves the shifting wind;
Trackless and traceless is their flight
As falling stars of yesternight,
Or the old tidemarks on the shore
Which other tides have rippled o'er,
Yet art, by Genius trained and taught,
Arrests—records the fleeting thought,
Stamps on the minute or the hour
A lasting, an eternal power,
And to minds passing shadows gives
An influence that for ever lives.
But mightiest of the mighty means
On which the arm of Progress leans,
Man's noblest mission to advance,
His woes assuage, his weal enhance,
His rights enforce, his wrongs redress,
Mightiest of mighty is the Press.