By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882)

A Ballad of the French Fleet

October, 1746—Mr. Thomas Prince loquitur

A FLEET with flags arrayed   Sailed from the port of Brest, And the Admiral’s ship displayed   The signal: “Steer southwest.” For this Admiral D’Anville   Had sworn by cross and crown To ravage with fire and steel   Our helpless Boston Town.   There were rumors in the street,   In the houses there was fear Of the coming of the fleet,   And the danger hovering near. And while from mouth to mouth   Spread the tidings of dismay, I stood in the Old South,   Saying humbly: “Let us pray!   “O Lord! we would not advise;   But if in thy Providence A tempest should arise   To drive the French Fleet hence, And scatter it far and wide,   Or sink it in the sea, We should be satisfied,   And thine the glory be.”   This was the prayer I made,   For my soul was all on flame, And even as I prayed   The answering tempest came; It came with a mighty power,   Shaking the windows and walls, And tolling the bell in the tower,   As it tolls at funerals.   The lightning suddenly   Unsheathed its flaming sword, And I cried: “Stand still, and see   The salvation of the Lord!” The heavens were black with cloud,   The sea was white with hail, And ever more fierce and loud   Blew the October gale.   The fleet it overtook,   And the broad sails in the van Like the tents of Cushan shook,   Or the curtains of Midian. Down on the reeling decks   Crashed the o’erwhelming seas; Ah, never were there wrecks   So pitiful as these!   Like a potter’s vessel broke   The great ships of the line; They were carried away as a smoke,   Or sank like lead in the brine. O Lord! before thy path   They vanished and ceased to be, When thou didst walk in wrath   With thine horses through the sea!

A Psalm of Life

What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist

TELL me not, in mournful numbers,   Life is but an empty dream!— For the soul is dead that slumbers,   And things are not what they seem.   Life is real! Life is earnest!   And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest,   Was not spoken of the soul.   Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,   Is our destined end or way; But to act, that each to-morrow   Find us farther than today.   Art is long, and Time is fleeting,   And our hearts, though stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums, are beating   Funeral marches to the grave.   In the world’s broad field of battle,   In the bivouac of Life, Be not like dumb, driven cattle!   Be a hero in the strife!   Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!   Let the dead Past bury its dead! Act,—act in the living Present!   Heart within, and God o’erhead!   Lives of great men all remind us   We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us   Footprints on the sands of time;   Footprints, that perhaps another,   Sailing o’er life’s solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,   Seeing, shall take heart again.   Let us then, be up and doing,   With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing,   Learn to labor and to wait.

Chaucer

AN OLD man in a lodge within a park; The chamber walls depicted all around With portraitures of huntsman, hawk, and hound, And the hurt deer. He listeneth to the lark, Whose song comes with the sunshine through the dark Of painted glass in leaden lattice bound; He listeneth and he laugheth at the sound, Then writeth in a book like any clerk. He is the poet of the dawn, who wrote The Canterbury Tales, and his old age Made beautiful with song; and as I read I hear the crowing cock, I hear the note Of lark and linnet, and from every page Rise odors of ploughed field or flowery mead.

Curfew

SOLEMNLY, mournfully,   Dealing its dole, The Curfew Bell   Is beginning to toll.   Cover the embers,   And put out the light; Toil comes with the morning,   And rest with the night.   Dark grow the windows,   And quenched is the fire; Sound fades into silence,—   All footsteps retire.   No voice in the chambers,   No sound in the hall! Sleep and oblivion   Reign over all!   The book is completed,   And closed, like the day; And the hand that has written it   Lays it away.   Dim grow its fancies;   Forgotten they lie; Like coals in the ashes,   They darken and die.   Song sinks into silence,   The story is told, The windows are darkened,   The hearth-stone is cold.   Darker and darker   The black shadows fall; Sleep and oblivion   Reign over all.

Dante

TUSCAN, that wanderest through the realms of gloom, With thoughtful pace, and sad, majestic eyes, Stern thoughts and awful from thy soul arise, Like Farinata from his fiery tomb. Thy sacred song is like the trump of doom; Yet in thy heart what human sympathies, What soft compassion glows, as in the skies The tender stars their clouded lamps relume! Methinks I see thee stand with pallid cheeks By Fra Hilario in his diocese, As up the convent-walls, in golden streaks, The ascending sunbeams mark the day’s decrease; And, as he asks what there the stranger seeks, Thy voice along the cloister whispers “Peace!”

Endymion

THE RISING moon has hid the stars; Her level rays, like golden bars,       Lie on the landscape green,       With shadows brown between.   And silver white the river gleams, As if Diana, in her dreams,       Had dropt her silver bow       Upon the meadows low.   On such a tranquil night as this, She woke Endymion with a kiss,       When, sleeping in the grove,       He dreamed not of her love.   Like Dian’s kiss, unasked, unsought, Love gives itself, but is not bought;       Nor voice, nor sound betrays       Its deep, impassioned gaze.   It comes,—the beautiful, the free, The crown of all humanity,—       In silence and alone       To seek the elected one.   It lifts the boughs, whose shadows deep Are Life’s oblivion, the soul’s sleep,       And kisses the closed eyes       Of him who slumbering lies.   O weary hearts! O slumbering eyes! O drooping souls, whose destinies       Are fraught with fear and pain,       Ye shall be loved again!   No one is so accursed by fate, No one so utterly desolate,       But some heart, though unknown,       Responds unto his own.   Responds,—as if with unseen wings An angel touched its quivering strings;       And whispers, in its song,       “Where hast thou stayed so long?”

From “Evangeline”

EVANGELINE IN ACADIE SOMEWHAT apart from the village, and nearer the Basin of Minas, Benedict Bellefontaine, the wealthiest farmer of Grand-Pré, Dwelt on his goodly acres; and with him, directing his household, Gentle Evangeline lived, his child, and the pride of the village. Stalworth and stately in form was the man of seventy winters; Hearty and hale was he, an oak that is covered with snowflakes; White as the snow were his locks, and his cheeks as brown as the oak-leaves. Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen summers. Black were her eyes as the berry that grows on the thorn by the wayside, Black, yet how softly they gleamed beneath the brown shade of her tresses! Sweet was her breath as the breath of kine that feed in the meadows. When in the harvest heat she bore to the reapers at noontide Flagons of home-brewed ale, ah! fair in sooth was the maiden. Fairer was she when, on Sunday morn, while the bell from its turret Sprinkled with holy sounds the air, as the priest with his hyssop Sprinkles the congregation, and scatters blessings upon them, Down the long street she passed, with her chaplet of beads and her missal, Wearing her Norman cap, and her kirtle of blue, and the ear-rings, Brought in the olden time from France, and since, as an heirloom, Handed down from mother to child, through long generations. But a celestial brightness—a more ethereal beauty— Shone on her face and encircled her form, when, after confession, Homeward serenely she walked with God’s benediction upon her. When she had passed, it seemed like the ceasing of exquisite music.     Firmly builded with rafters of oak, the house of the farmer Stood on the side of a hill commanding the sea; and a shady Sycamore grew by the door, with a woodbine wreathing around it. Rudely carved was the porch, with seats beneath; and a footpath Led through an orchard wide, and disappeared in the meadow. Under the sycamore-tree were hives over-hung by a penthouse, Such as the traveller sees in regions remote by the roadside, Built o’er a box for the poor, or the blessëd image of Mary. Farther down, on the slope of the hill, was the well with its moss-grown Bucket, fastened with iron, and near it a trough for the horses. Shielding the house from storms, on the north, were the barns and the farm-yard. There stood the broad-wheeled wains and the antique ploughs and the harrows; There were the folds for the sheep; and there, in his feathered seraglio, Strutted the lordly turkey, and crowed the cock, with the selfsame Voice that in ages of old had startled the penitent Peter. Bursting with hay were the barns, themselves a village. In each one Far o’er the gable projected a roof of thatch; and a staircase, Under the sheltering eaves, led up to the odorous corn-loft. There too the dove-cot stood, with its meek and innocent inmates Murmuring ever of love; while above in the variant breezes Numberless noisy weathercocks rattled and sang of mutation.   ON THE ATCHAFALAYA Water-lilies in myriads rocked on the slight undulations Made by the passing oars, and, resplendent in beauty, the lotus Lifted her golden crown above the heads of the boatmen. Faint was the air with the odorous breath of magnolia blossoms, And with the heat of noon; and numberless sylvan islands, Fragrant and thickly embowered with blossoming hedges of roses, Near to whose shores they glided along, invited to slumber. Soon by the fairest of these their weary oars were suspended. Under the boughs of Wachita willows, that grew by the margin, Safely their boat was moored; and scattered about on the greensward, Tired with their midnight toil, the weary travellers slumbered. Over them vast and high extended the cope of a cedar. Swinging from its great arms, the trumpet-flower and the grapevine Hung their ladder of ropes aloft like the ladder of Jacob, On whose pendulous stairs the angels ascending, descending, Were the swift humming-birds, that flitted from blossom to blossom. Such was the vision Evangeline saw as she slumbered beneath it. Filled was her heart with love, and the dawn of an opening heaven Lighted her soul in sleep with the glory of regions celestial.   Softly the evening came. The sun from the western horizon Like a magician extended his golden wand o’er the landscape; Twinkling vapors arose; and sky and water and forest Seemed all on fire at the touch, and melted and mingled together. Hanging between two skies, a cloud with edges of silver, Floated the boat, with its dripping oars, on the motionless water. Filled was Evangeline’s heart with inexpressible sweetness. Touched by the magic spell, the sacred fountains of feeling Glowed with the light of love, as the skies and waters around her. Then from a neighboring thicket the mocking-bird, wildest of singers, Swinging aloft on a willow spray that hung o’er the water, Shook from his little throat such floods of delirious music, That the whole air and the woods and the waves seemed silent to listen. Plaintive at first were the tones and sad: then, soaring to madness, Seemed they to follow or guide the revel of frenzied Bacchantes. Single notes were then heard, in sorrowful, low lamentation; Till, having gathered them all, he flung them abroad in derision, As when, after a storm, a gust of wind through the tree-tops Shakes down the rattling rain in a crystal shower on the branches. With such a prelude as this, and hearts that throbbed with emotion, Slowly they entered the Têche, where it flows through the green Opelousas, And, through the amber air, above the crest of the woodland, Saw the column of smoke that arose from a neighboring dwelling;— Sounds of a horn they heard, and the distant lowing of cattle.   THE FINDING OF GABRIEL Then it came to pass that a pestilence fell on the city, Presaged by wondrous signs, and mostly by flocks of wild pigeons, Darkening the sun in their flight, with naught in their craws but an acorn. And, as the tides of the sea arise in the month of September, Flooding some silver stream, till it spreads to a lake in the meadow, So death flooded life, and, o’erflowing its natural margin, Spread to a brackish lake, the silver stream of existence. Wealth had no power to bribe, nor beauty to charm, the oppressor; But all perished alike beneath the scourge of his anger;— Only, alas! the poor, who had neither friends nor attendants, Crept away to die in the almshouse, home of the homeless. Then in the suburbs it stood, in the midst of meadows and woodlands;— Now the city surrounds it; but still, with its gateway and wicket Meek, in the midst of splendor, its humble walls seem to echo Softly the words of the Lord:—“The poor ye always have with you.” Thither, by night and by day, came the Sister of Mercy. The dying Looked up into her face, and thought, indeed, to behold there Gleams of celestial light encircle her fore-head with splendor, Such as the artist paints o’er the brows of saints and apostles, Or such as hangs by night o’er a city seen at a distance. Unto their eyes it seemed the lamps of the city celestial, Into whose shining gates erelong their spirits would enter.     Thus, on a Sabbath morn, through the streets, deserted and silent, Wending her quiet way, she entered the door of the almshouse. Sweet on the summer air was the odor of flowers in the garden; And she paused on her way to gather the fairest among them, That the dying once more might rejoice in their fragrance and beauty. Then, as she mounted the stairs to the corridors, cooled by the east-wind, Distant and soft on her ear fell the chimes from the belfry of Christ Church, While intermingled with these, across the meadows were wafted Sounds of psalms, that were sung by the Swedes in their church at Wicaco. Soft as descending wings fell the calm of the hour on her spirit; Something within her said, “At length thy trials are ended;” And, with light in her looks, she entered the chambers of sickness. Noiselessly moved about the assiduous, careful attendants, Moistening the feverish lip, and the aching brow, and in silence Closing the sightless eyes of the dead, and concealing their faces, Where on their pallets they lay, like drifts of snow by the roadside. Many a languid head, upraised as Evangeline entered, Turned on its pillow of pain to gaze while she passed, for her presence Fell on their hearts like a ray of the sun on the walls of a prison. And, as she looked around, she saw how Death, the consoler, Laying his hand upon many a heart, had healed it forever. Many familiar forms had disappeared in the night-time; Vacant their places were, or filled already by strangers.     Suddenly, as if arrested by fear or a feeling of wonder, Still she stood, with her colorless lips apart, while a shudder Ran through her frame, and, forgotten, the flowerets dropped from her fingers, And from her eyes and cheeks the light and bloom of the morning. Then there escaped from her lips a cry of such terrible anguish, That the dying heard it, and started up from their pillows. On the pallet before her was stretched the form of an old man. Long, and thin, and gray were the locks that shaded his temples; But, as he lay in the morning light, his face for a moment Seemed to assume once more the forms of its earlier manhood; So are wont to be changed the faces of those who are dying. Hot and red on his lips still burned the flush of the fever, As if life, like the Hebrew, with blood had besprinkled its portals, That the Angel of Death might see the sign, and pass over. Motionless, senseless, dying, he lay, and his spirit exhausted Seemed to be sinking down through infinite depths in the darkness— Darkness of slumber and death, forever sinking and sinking. Then through those realms of shade, in multiplied reverberations, Heard he that cry of pain, and through the hush that succeeded Whispered a gentle voice, in accents tender and saint-like, “Gabriel! O my beloved!” and died away into silence. Then he beheld, in a dream, once more the home of his childhood; Green Acadian meadows, with sylvan rivers among them, Village, and mountain, and woodlands; and walking under their shadow, As in the days of her youth, Evangeline rose in his vision. Tears came into his eyes; and as slowly he lifted his eyelids, Vanished the vision away, but Evangeline knelt by his bedside. Vainly he strove to whisper her name, for the accents unuttered Died on his lips, and their motion revealed what his tongue would have spoken. Vainly he strove to rise; and Evangeline, kneeling beside him, Kissed his dying lips, and laid his head on her bosom. Sweet was the light of his eyes; but it suddenly sank into darkness, As when a lamp is blown out by a gust of wind at a casement.     All was ended now, the hope, and the fear, and the sorrow, All the aching of heart, the restless, unsatisfied longing, All the dull, deep pain, and constant anguish of patience! And, as she pressed once more the lifeless head to her bosom, Meekly she bowed her own, and murmured,   “Father, I thank thee!”

From “The Building of the Ship”

The Republic

THOU, too, sail on, O Ship of State! Sail on, O UNION, strong and great! Humanity with all its fears, With all the hopes of future years, Is hanging breathless on thy fate! We know what Master laid thy keel, What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel, Who made each mast, and sail, and rope, What anvils rang, what hammers beat, In what a forge and what a heat Were shaped the anchors of thy hope! Fear not each sudden sound and shock, ’T is of the wave and not the rock; ’T is but the flapping of the sail, And not a rent made by the gale! In spite of rock and tempest’s roar, In spite of false lights on the shore, Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea! Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee, Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, Our faith triumphant o’er our fears, Are all with thee,—are all with thee!

From “The Song of Hiawatha”

The Death of Minnehaha

ALL day long roved Hiawatha In that melancholy forest, Through the shadow of whose thickets, In the pleasant days of Summer, Of that ne’er forgotten Summer, He had brought his young wife homeward From the land of the Dacotahs; When the birds sang in the thickets, And the streamlets laughed and glistened, And the air was full of fragrance, And the lovely Laughing Water Said with voice that did not tremble, “I will follow you, my husband!”   In the wigwam with Nokomis, With those gloomy guests that watched her, With the Famine and the Fever, She was lying, the Beloved, She, the dying Minnehaha.   “Hark!” she said; “I hear a rushing, Hear a roaring and a rushing, Hear the Falls of Minnehaha Calling to me from a distance!” “No, my child!” said old Nokomis, “’T is the night-wind in the pine-trees!”   “Look!” she said; “I see my father Standing lonely at his doorway, Beckoning to me from his wigwam In the land of the Dacotahs!” “No, my child!” said old Nokomis, “’T is the smoke, that waves and beckons!”   “Ah!” said she, “the eyes of Pauguk Glare upon me in the darkness, I can feel his icy fingers Clasping mine amid the darkness! Hiawatha! Hiawatha!”   And the desolate Hiawatha, Far away amid the forest, Miles away among the mountains, Heard that sudden cry of anguish, Heard the voice of Minnehaha Calling to him in the darkness, “Hiawatha! Hiawatha!”   Over snow-fields waste and pathless, Under snow-encumbered branches, Homeward hurried Hiawatha, Empty-handed, heavy-hearted, Heard Nokomis moaning, wailing: “Wahonowin! Wahonowin! Would that I had perished for you, Would that I were dead as you are! Wahonowin! Wahonowin!”   And he rushed into the wigwam, Saw the old Nokomis slowly Rocking to and fro and moaning, Saw his lovely Minnehaha Lying dead and cold before him, And his bursting heart within him Uttered such a cry of anguish, That the forest moaned and shuddered, That the very stars in heaven Shook and trembled with his anguish   Then he sat down, still and speechless, On the bed of Minnehaha, At the feet of Laughing Water, At those willing feet, that never More would lightly run to meet him, Never more would lightly follow.   With both hands his face he covered, Seven long days and nights he sat there, As if in a swoon he sat there, Speechless, motionless, unconscious Of the daylight or the darkness.   Then they buried Minnehaha; In the snow a grave they made her, In the forest deep and darksome, Underneath the moaning hemlocks; Clothed her in her richest garments, Wrapped her in her robes of ermine, Covered her with snow, like ermine; Thus they buried Minnehaha.   And at night a fire was lighted, On her grave four times was kindled, For her soul upon its journey To the Islands of the Blessed. From his doorway Hiawatha Saw it burning in the forest, Lighting up the gloomy hemlocks; From his sleepless bed uprising, From the bed of Minnehaha, Stood and watched it at the doorway, That it might not be extinguished, Might not leave her in the darkness.   “Farewell!” said he, “Minnehaha! Farewell, O my Laughing Water! All my heart is buried with you, All my thoughts go onward with you! Come not back again to labor, Come not back again to suffer, Where the Famine and the Fever Wear the heart and waste the body. Soon my task will be completed, Soon your footsteps I shall follow To the Islands of the Blessed, To the Kingdom of Ponemah, To the Land of the Hereafter!”

Hymn to the Night

I HEARD the trailing garments of the Night   Sweep through her marble halls! I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light   From the celestial walls!   I felt her presence, by its spell of might,   Stoop o’er me from above; The calm, majestic presence of the Night,   As of the one I love.   I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight,   The manifold, soft chimes, That fill the haunted chambers of the Night,   Like some old poet’s rhymes.   From the cool cisterns of the midnight air   My spirit drank repose; The fountain of perpetual peace flows there,—   From those deep cisterns flows.   O holy Night! from thee I learn to bear   What man has borne before! Thou layest thy finger on the lips of Care,   And they complain no more.   Peace! Peace! Orestes-like I breathe this prayer!   Descend with broad-winged flight, The welcome, the thrice-prayed for, the most fair,   The best-belovëd Night!

Jugurtha

HOW cold are thy baths, Apollo!   Cried the African monarch, the splendid, As down to his death in the hollow   Dark dungeons of Rome he descended,   Uncrowned, unthroned, unattended; How cold are thy baths, Apollo!   How cold are thy baths, Apollo!   Cried the Poet, unknown, unbefriended, As the vision, that lured him to follow,   With the mist and the darkness blended,   And the dream of his life was ended; How cold are thy baths, Apollo!

Milton

I PACE the sounding sea-beach and behold How the voluminous billows roll and run, Upheaving and subsiding, while the sun Shines through their sheeted emerald far unrolled, And the ninth wave, slow gathering fold by fold All its loose-flowing garments into one, Plunges upon the shore, and floods the dun Pale reach of sands, and changes them to gold. So in majestic cadence rise and fall The mighty undulations of thy song, O sightless bard, England’s Mæonides! And ever and anon, high over all Uplifted, a ninth wave superb and strong Floods all the soul with its melodious seas.

My Books

SADLY as some old mediæval knight Gazed at the arms he could no longer wield, The sword two-handed and the shining shield Suspended in the hall, and full in sight, While secret longings for the lost delight Of tourney or adventure in the field Came over him, and tears but half concealed Trembled and fell upon his beard of white, So I behold these books upon their shelf, My ornaments and arms of other days; Not wholly useless, though no longer used, For they remind me of my other self, Younger and stronger, and the pleasant ways In which I walked, now clouded and confused.

My Lost Youth

OFTEN I think of the beautiful town   That is seated by the sea; Often in thought go up and down The pleasant streets of that dear old town,   And my youth comes back to me.     And a verse of a Lapland song     Is haunting my memory still:     “A boy’s will is the wind’s will, And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.”   I can see the shadowy lines of its trees,   And catch, in sudden gleams, The sheen of the far-surrounding seas, And islands that were the Hesperides   Of all my boyish dreams.     And the burden of that old song,     It murmurs and whispers still:     “A boy’s will is the wind’s will, And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.”   I remember the black wharves and the slips,   And the sea-tides tossing free; And Spanish sailors with bearded lips, And the beauty and mystery of the ships,   And the magic of the sea.     And the voice of that wayward song     Is singing and saying still:     “A boy’s will is the wind’s will, And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.”   I remember the bulwarks by the shore,   And the fort upon the hill; The sunrise gun, with its hollow roar, The drum-beat repeated o’er and o’er,   And the bugle wild and shrill.     And the music of that old song     Throbs in my memory still:     “A boy’s will is the wind’s will, And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.”   I remember the sea-fight far away,   How it thundered o’er the tide! And the dead captains, as they lay In their graves, o’erlooking the tranquil bay   Where they in battle died.     And the sound of that mournful song     Goes through me with a thrill:     “A boy’s will is the wind’s will, And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.”   I can see the breezy dome of groves,   The shadows of Deering’s Woods; And the friendships old and the early loves Come back with a Sabbath sound, as of doves   In quiet neighborhoods.     And the verse of that sweet old song,     It flutters and murmurs still:     “A boy’s will is the wind’s will, And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.”   I remember the gleams and glooms that dart   Across the school-boy’s brain; The song and the silence in the heart, That in part are prophecies, and in part   Are longings wild and vain.     And the voice of that fitful song     Sings on, and is never still:     “A boy’s will is the wind’s will, And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.”   There are things of which I may not speak;   There are dreams that cannot die; There are thoughts that make the strong heart weak, And bring a pallor into the cheek,   And a mist before the eye.     And the words of that fatal song     Come over me like a chill:     “A boy’s will is the wind’s will, And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.”   Strange to me now are the forms I meet   When I visit the dear old town; But the native air is pure and sweet, And the trees that o’ershadow each well-known street,   As they balance up and down,     Are singing the beautiful song,     Are sighing and whispering still:     “A boy’s will is the wind’s will, And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.”   And Deering’s Woods are fresh and fair,   And with joy that is almost pain My heart goes back to wander there, And among the dreams of the days that were,   I find my lost youth again.     And the strange and beautiful song,     The groves are repeating it still:     “A boy’s will is the wind’s will, And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.”

Nature

AS a fond mother, when the day is o’er, Leads by the hand her little child to bed, Half willing, half reluctant to be led, And leave his broken playthings on the floor, Still gazing at them through the open door, Nor wholly reassured and comforted By promises of others in their stead, Which, though more splendid, may not please him more; So Nature deals with us, and takes away Our playthings one by one, and by the hand Leads us to rest so gently, that we go Scarce knowing if we wish to go or stay, Being too full of sleep to understand How far the unknown transcends the what we know.

Serenade from “The Spanish Student”

STARS of the summer night!     Far in yon azure deeps, Hide, hide your golden light!     She sleeps! My lady sleeps!     Sleeps!   Moon of the summer night!     Far down yon western steeps, Sink, sink in silver light!     She sleeps! My lady sleeps!     Sleeps!   Wind of the summer night!     Where yonder woodbine creeps, Fold, fold thy pinions light!     She sleeps! My lady sleeps!     Sleeps!   Dreams of the summer night!     Tell her, her lover keeps Watch! while in slumbers light     She sleeps! My lady sleeps!     Sleeps!

The Arrow and the Song

I SHOT an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For, so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight.   I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For who has sight so keen and strong That it can follow the flight of song?   Long, long afterward, in an oak I found the arrow, still unbroke; And the song, from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend.

The Bells of Lynn

O CURFEW of the setting sun! O Bells of Lynn! O requiem of the dying day! O Bells of Lynn!   From the dark belfries of yon cloud-cathedral wafted, Your sounds aerial seem to float, O Bells of Lynn!   Borne on the evening wind across the crimson twilight, O’er land and sea they rise and fall, O Bells of Lynn!   The fisherman in his boat, far out beyond the headland, Listens, and leisurely rows ashore, O Bells of Lynn!   Over the shining sands the wandering cattle homeward Follow each other at your call, O Bells of Lynn!   The distant lighthouse hears, and with his flaming signal Answers you, passing the watchword on, O Bells of Lynn!   And down the darkening coast run the tumultuous surges, And clap their hands, and shout to you, O Bells of Lynn!   Till from the shuddering sea, with your wild incantations, Ye summon up the spectral moon, O Bells of Lynn!   And startled at the sight, like the weird woman of Endor, Ye cry aloud, and then are still, O Bells of Lynn!

The Children’s Hour

BETWEEN the dark and the daylight,   When the night is beginning to lower, Comes a pause in the day’s occupations,   That is known as the Children’s Hour.   I hear in the chamber above me   The patter of little feet, The sound of a door that is opened,   And voices soft and sweet.   From my study I see in the lamplight,   Descending the broad hall stair, Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,   And Edith with golden hair.   A whisper, and then a silence:   Yet I know by their merry eyes They are plotting and planning together   To take me by surprise.   A sudden rush from the stairway,   A sudden raid from the hall! By three doors left unguarded   They enter my castle wall!   They climb up into my turret   O’er the arms and back of my chair; If I try to escape, they surround me;   They seem to be everywhere.   They almost devour me with kisses,   Their arms about me entwine, Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen   In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!   Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti,   Because you have scaled the wall, Such an old mustache as I am   Is not a match for you all!   I have you fast in my fortress,   And will not let you depart, But put you down into the dungeon   In the round-tower of my heart.   And there will I keep you forever,   Yes, forever and a day, Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,   And moulder in dust away.

The Cumberland

AT anchor in Hampton Roads we lay,   On board of the Cumberland, sloop-of-war; And at times from the fortress across the bay     The alarum of drums swept past,     Or a bugle blast   From the camp on the shore.   Then far away to the south uprose   A little feather of snow-white smoke, And we knew that the iron ship of our foes     Was steadily steering its course     To try the force   Of our ribs of oak.   Down upon us heavily runs,   Silent and sullen, the floating fort; Then comes a puff of smoke from her guns,     And leaps the terrible death,     With fiery breath,   From each open port.   We are not idle, but send her straight   Defiance back in a full broadside! As hail rebounds from a roof of slate,     Rebounds our heavier hail     From each iron scale   Of the monster’s hide.   “Strike your flag!” the rebel cries,   In his arrogant old plantation strain. “Never!” our gallant Morris replies;     “It is better to sink than to yield!”     And the whole air pealed   With the cheers of our men.   Then, like a kraken huge and black,   She crushed our ribs in her iron grasp! Down went the Cumberland all a wrack,     With a sudden shudder of death,     And the cannon’s breath   For her dying gasp.   Next morn, as the sun rose over the bay,   Still floated our flag at the mainmast head. Lord, how beautiful was Thy day!     Every waft of the air     Was a whisper of prayer,   Or a dirge for the dead.   Ho! brave hearts that went down in the seas!   Ye are at peace in the troubled stream; Ho! brave land! with hearts like these,     Thy flag, that is rent in twain,     Shall be one again,   And without a seam!

The Skeleton in Armor

“SPEAK! speak! thou fearful guest! Who, with thy hollow breast Still in rude armor drest,   Comest to daunt me! Wrapt not in Eastern balms, But with thy fleshless palms Stretched, as if asking alms,   Why dost thou haunt me?”   Then from those cavernous eyes Pale flashes seemed to rise, As when the Northern skies   Gleam in December; And, like the water’s flow Under December’s snow, Came a dull voice of woe   From the heart’s chamber.   “I was a Viking old! My deeds, though manifold, No Skald in song has told,   No Saga taught thee! Take heed that in thy verse Thou dost the tale rehearse, Else dread a dead man’s curse;   For this I sought thee.   “Far in the Northern Land, By the wild Baltic’s strand, I, with my childish hand,   Tamed the gerfalcon; And, with my skates fast-bound, Skimmed the half-frozen Sound, That the poor whimpering hound   Trembled to walk on.   “Oft to his frozen lair Tracked I the grisly bear, While from my path the hare   Fled like a shadow; Oft through the forest dark Followed the were-wolf’s bark, Until the soaring lark   Sang from the meadow.   “But when I older grew, Joining a corsair’s crew, O’er the dark sea I flew   With the marauders. Wild was the life we led; Many the souls that sped, Many the hearts that bled,   By our stern orders.   “Many a wassail-bout Wore the long Winter out; Often our midnight shout   Set the cocks crowing, As we the Berserk’s tale Measured in cups of ale, Draining the oaken pail   Filled to o’erflowing.   “Once as I told in glee Tales of the stormy sea, Soft eyes did gaze on me,   Burning yet tender; And as the white stars shine On the dark Norway pine, On that dark heart of mine   Fell their soft splendor.   “I wooed the blue-eyed maid, Yielding, yet half afraid, And in the forest’s shade   Our vows were plighted. Under its loosened vest Fluttered her little breast, Like birds within their nest   By the hawk frighted.   “Bright in her father’s hall Shields gleamed upon the wall, Loud sang the minstrels all,   Chanting his glory; When of old Hildebrand I asked his daughter’s hand, Mute did the minstrels stand   To hear my story.   “While the brown ale he quaffed, Loud then the champion laughed, And as the wind-gusts waft   The sea-foam brightly, So the loud laugh of scorn, Out of those lips unshorn, From the deep drinking-horn   Blew the foam lightly.   “She was a Prince’s child, I but a Viking wild, And though she blushed and smiled,   I was discarded! Should not the dove so white Follow the sea-mew’s flight? Why did they leave that night   Her nest unguarded?   “Scarce had I put to sea, Bearing the maid with me,— Fairest of all was she   Among the Norsemen!— When on the white sea-strand, Waving his armëd hand, Saw we old Hildebrand,   With twenty horsemen.   “Then launched they to the blast, Bent like a reed each mast, Yet we were gaining fast,   When the wind failed us; And with a sudden flaw Came round the gusty Skaw, So that our foe we saw   Laugh as he hailed us.   “And as to catch the gale Round veered the flapping sail, ‘Death!’ was the helmsman’s hail,   ‘Death without quarter!’ Midships with iron keel Struck we her ribs of steel; Down her black hulk did reel   Through the black water!   “As with his wings aslant, Sails the fierce cormorant, Seeking some rocky haunt,   With his prey laden, So toward the open main, Beating to sea again, Through the wild hurricane,   Bore I the maiden.   “Three weeks we westward bore, And when the storm was o’er, Cloud-like we saw the shore   Stretching to leeward; There for my lady’s bower Built I the lofty tower, Which, to this very hour,   Stands looking seaward.   “There lived we many years; Time dried the maiden’s tears; She had forgot her fears,   She was a mother; Death closed her mild blue eyes; Under that tower she lies; Ne’er shall the sun arise   On such another.   “Still grew my bosom then, Still as a stagnant fen! Hateful to me were men,   The sunlight hateful! In the vast forest here, Clad in my warlike gear, Fell I upon my spear,   Oh, death was grateful!   “Thus, seamed with many scars, Bursting these prison bars, Up to its native stars   My soul ascended! There from the flowing bowl Deep drinks the warrior’s soul, Skoal! to the Northland! skoal!”   Thus the tale ended.

The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls

THE TIDE rises, the tide falls, The twilight darkens, the curlew calls; Along the sea-sands damp and brown The traveller hastens toward the town,     And the tide rises, the tide falls.   Darkness settles on roofs and walls, But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls; The little waves, with their soft, white hands, Efface the footprints in the sands,     And the tide rises, the tide falls.   The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls; The day returns, but nevermore Returns the traveller to the shore,     And the tide rises, the tide falls.

The Village Blacksmith

UNDER a spreading chestnut-tree   The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighty man is he,   With large and sinewy hands; And the muscles of his brawny arms   Are strong as iron bands.   His hair is crisp, and black, and long,   His face is like the tan; His brow is wet with honest sweat,   He earns whate’er he can, And looks the whole world in the face,   For he owes not any man.   Week in, week out, from morn till night,   You can hear his bellows blow; You can hear him swing his heavy sledge   With measured beat and slow, Like a sexton ringing the village bell,   When the evening sun is low.   And children coming home from school   Look in at the open door; They love to see the flaming forge,   And hear the bellows roar, And catch the burning sparks that fly   Like chaff from a threshing-floor.   He goes on Sunday to the church,   And sits among his boys; He hears the parson pray and preach,   He hears his daughter’s voice, Singing in the village choir,   And it makes his heart rejoice.   It sounds to him like her mother’s voice,   Singing in Paradise! He needs must think of her once more,   How in the grave she lies; And with his hard, rough hand he wipes   A tear out of his eyes.   Toiling,—rejoicing,—sorrowing,   Onward through life he goes; Each morning sees some task begin,   Each evening sees its close; Something attempted, something done,   Has earned a night’s repose.   Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend,   For the lesson thou hast taught! Thus at the flaming forge of life   Our fortunes must be wrought; Thus on its sounding anvil shaped   Each burning deed and thought!

The Warden of the Cinque Ports

A MIST was driving down the British Channel,   The day was just begun, And through the window-panes, on floor and panel,   Streamed the red autumn sun.   It glanced on flowing flag and rippling pennon,   And the white sails of ships; And, from the frowning rampart, the black cannon   Hailed it with feverish lips.   Sandwich and Romney, Hastings, Hithe, and Dover   Were all alert that day, To see the French war-steamers speeding over,   When the fog cleared away.   Sullen and silent, and like couchant lions,   Their cannon, through the night, Holding their breath, had watched, in grim defiance,   The sea-coast opposite.   And now they roared at drum-beat from their stations   On every citadel; Each answering each, with morning salutations,   That all was well.   And down the coast, all taking up the burden,   Replied the distant forts, As if to summon from his sleep the Warden   And Lord of the Cinque Ports.   Him shall no sunshine from the fields of azure,   No drum-beat from the wall, No morning gun from the black fort’s embrasure,   Awaken with its call!   No more, surveying with an eye impartial   The long line of the coast, Shall the gaunt figure of the old Field Marshal   Be seen upon his post!   For in the night, unseen, a single warrior,   In sombre harness mailed, Dreaded of man, and surnamed the Destroyer,   The rampart wall had scaled.   He passed into the chamber of the sleeper,   The dark and silent room, And as he entered, darker grew, and deeper,   The silence and the gloom.   He did not pause to parley or dissemble,   But smote the Warden hoar; Ah! what a blow! that made all England tremble   And groan from shore to shore.   Meanwhile, without, the surly cannon waited,   The sun rose bright o’erhead; Nothing in Nature’s aspect intimated   That a great man was dead.

Wapentake

To Alfred Tennyson

POET! I come to touch thy lance with mine; Not as a knight, who on the listed field Of tourney touched his adversary’s shield In token of defiance, but in sign Of homage to the mastery, which is thine, In English song; nor will I keep concealed, And voiceless as a rivulet frost-congealed, My admiration for thy verse divine. Not of the howling dervishes of song, Who craze the brain with their delirious dance, Art thou, O sweet historian of the heart! Therefore to thee the laurel-leaves belong, To thee our love and our allegiance, For thy allegiance to the poet’s art.

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