The Rainbow. I. ON a wild cliff that rears its bold crest to the sky
I stood when the Storm-king was raging on high;
Dark lowered the tempest that spread o’er his brow,
And like reeds in the wind the tall crags seemed to bow.
II. But he soon passed away with his storm banners furled,
And a sun-tide of glory burst forth o’er the world,
While around the dark East, ere the dayspring’s decline,
Curved the bright bow of peace with its promise divine.
III. Beneath the broad arch in the valley below
Lay the home of the rich, lay the cot of the low;
There in beauty secluded the hamlet arose,
And the churchyard beside lay in quiet repose.
IV. There the aged were waiting in life’s sunset tide;
And the young, they were there in the springtime of pride,
And the fair, whose soft cheek, with its beauty untold,
Bore the seal of the grave on its delicate mould.
V. There was Misery’s tear, there was Gladness and Mirth,
There was Grief that bowed low at the desolate hearth,—
But the bright bow rose high up to heaven above,
And clasped all beneath in its ardor of love.
VI. And I thought, O sweet emblem of glory and grace,
Of a Love that clasps all in its fervent embrace;—
Or the sunshine of life, or the gloom of the pall,
The living, the dead, it encircles them all.
In the Land of the Sun. I. IN the land of the sun—in that deep fervent clime,
Where Beauty forever doth smile,
Though the ripened fruit falls, yet the tree in its prime
Is bearing fresh flowers the while!
II. Thus the heart mid the fervor of youth’s sunny day,—
Though false you may deem it or true,
Drops the old loves, that hapless fall fading away,
While it blooms mid the fragrance of new.
The Sailor’s Bride. I. IT was eve,—at anchor riding
Stately ships were lulled to rest;
And the burnished sun was gliding
Down the golden pillared west.
On a floral beach where madly
Lashed old ocean’s foaming tide,
In half-broken accents sadly
Mourned the sailor’s lonely bride:
II. “Oh, ye winds on restless pinion,
Hovering o’er the dusky deep,
Tell me in what lone dominion
Does my sailor lover sleep?
Down beneath the rolling ocean,
Where the twining corals grow,
’Neath the wild wave’s ceaseless motion
Does he slumber cold and low?
III. “Now perchance the night winds blowing
On a shore all wild and drear,
Wave the tomb weeds o’er him growing
Undisturbed for many a year.
Oh! to me how sad and lonely
Seems the course of life for’er,
Haunted by vague memories only,
Which like ghosts yet linger near.
IV. “Years have fled since last we parted
On that most memorial night,
When in sadness, broken hearted,
Turned I to the moon’s wan light;
There some vague ghost seemed to linger,
With a tale too sad to tell,
And with lifted palsied finger,
Seemed to sigh, ‘Farewell! farewell!’
V. “Well I knew it was a token
From death’s dim and shadowy sphere,
And hope’s golden cup fell broken,
Dewed with many a falling tear.
Every bud of joy and gladness,
Every flower that love had fed,—
All in memory’s urn of sadness,
Mingled with the withered dead.”
VI. While she spoke the tears of twilight
Fell upon the dying day,
And the murky, misty skylight
On the slumbering ocean lay:
And the winds the lone beach sweeping,
Bore no tidings to her ear;—
Till beside the maiden weeping
Stood her sailor lover dear.
The Broken Mirror. I. IN my chamber of gloom and sadness,
A broken mirror lies;
It gleams with a boding madness,
Like the light from a thousand eyes;
And I know not what evil spirit
Hath spread its sombre wing,
That my fate should ever merit
So sad a happening.
II. Oh, once its case of amber
Flashed a glory o’er the walls!
But now in my dreary chamber
The sunlight never falls;
For shattered and broken forever
Lies that mirror on the floor,
And the peace I once knew shall never
Return to my bosom more!
III. In my heart so dim and lonely
A broken mirror lies
In the dust of dead hopes, which only
Recalls forgotten sighs;
And forever a spell enthralls me,
And a longing fills my breast,
And a spirit voice now calls me
To the valley of unrest.
The Chieftain’s Lament. I. ALL lonely and lone in the twilight he stood
On a cliff by the misty St. Lawrence;
And wailing thus moaned his complaint, while the flood
Rushed darkly beneath him in torrents:
II. “O land of my fathers, no longer I view thee
In beauty primeval as once thou wert clad;
Oh where are the forests that first when I knew thee
Stretched boundless in beauty the bosom to glad?
III. “Alas, oh how altered! what varying changes
Have saddened the scenes where in childhood I strayed,
No longer the wild deer in buoyancy ranges,
Nor tracks of the panther are seen in the glade.
IV. “My sad eyes now scan the wide, wide devastation,
Nor friends nor fond vestages there do they meet,
For the loved of my heart with the pride of my nation
Have mingled their dust ’neath the Pale-faces’ feet.
V. “Oppressed and down-trodden and driven to anguish!
What, what can the grief of my bosom gainsay?
Oh will they, Great Spirit, forever thus languish
Till the last of my people have withered away?
VI. “Ah no!—they will rise on a day great in glory,
And triumph in pride o’er the dust of the foe,[A]
And their valorous deeds in traditional story
Shall pass with the current of years as they flow.
VII. “But where, ah! oh where are the loved and the cherished
That brightened my home near the deep woody dell?—
They are gone, by the hand of the Pale-face they’ve perished,
And coldly they sleep in their moss-covered cell.
VIII. “Above them the drooping white willow is weeping,
And lowly the damp-breathing night-winds complain,
And the wan, silent moon her still vigil is keeping,
While their dove-spirits[B] mourn unavenged all in vain.
IX. “Ye Pale-face, I hate ye, I scorn ye to madness,
I loath to despair, but I cannot avenge.
All wretched I moan and ye scoff at my sadness.
Oh Spirit! Great Spirit! revenge, oh, revenge!”
X. He paused for a moment, then from the lone height
Plunged into the dark rolling river;
And the mad foaming billows lashed loud in delight,
Then closed o’er the chieftain forever.
Shadow-Land.
(Imitated from the Japanese.) I. WHITE-WINGED birds are playing
In the sunset heavens aglow,
White-sailed ships are straying
On the sunset sea below,—
But neither the birds above that are flying,
Nor the ships, where’er they may be,
In beauty and strangeness ever vying,
Are meant for me.
II. The elm tree dances, while, lazily wooing,
The zephyr passes along;
And aloft on a bough a ring-dove cooing,
In ardor breathes his song;—
But neither the dove, nor the zephyr blowing,
Which speaks to flower and tree,
Nor the deep-dyed fringe of evening glowing,
Are meant for me.
III. I turn my face to yon stately mountain,
Towering aloft in sunset glow,
With her lilied dell and ice-bound fountain,
And purple peak of snow;
In her secret alone are the stars and clouds,
And her beauty shines on the sea,
But the matchless scene a pall enshrouds,—
’Tis not for me.
IV. From twilight’s tomb in sadness
Comes the breath of the sleeping rose,
Soft as the flush of sunset gladness
Its spirit about me flows;
And I hear in the silent depths around me
The voices of things to be,
And dreams from the infinite shore surround me—
These are for me!
V. Shadowy sails that are sent to meet me,
Flapping the shadowy air;
And shapes of beauty that rise to greet me,—
Are ye phantoms, and yet so fair?
Now breaking the bands of the dusk asunder,
Tremulous stars dawn in mystery;
But they shine not a ray for the dark world under—
They shine for me!
VI. Ye stars that beam when the soul grows tender,
Deep stars unknown to the skies,
Now fairly shining, now veiling your splendor,
Are ye visions, oh, radiant eyes?
On the shore of the silent, thick shadows are falling,—
Veiling an infinite sea,
And spirits moving there are calling—
Calling for me!
An Ode. WE stand by a sunlit river,
Where wavelets, wild and free,
Flashing and glittering ever,
Rush onward to the sea;
O’er its bosom, brightly gleaming,
A golden halo glows,
As, in argent splendor dreaming,
Its current onward flows;
There the golden sunlight pillows,
And music ever wells,—
But beneath those tossing billows
Oft an undercurrent swells.
Still the tide flows onward gladly,
With music soft and low,
And we know not, oh, how sadly,
The waters moan below!
There the cruel rocks are rigid,
And wrapt in sable gloom;
And the cold, dark depths are frigid
As an icebound wintry tomb;
Yet the soul is lured to gladness,
As the billows rise and flow,—
But the current’s mournful sadness
No heart may ever know.
Life’s stream thus, ever rapid,
Flows onward merrily;
Though its glory may be vapid,
No sorrow do we see;
And a smile may gild a feature,
As the billows onward roll
O’er the rugged rocks of nature
Deep in the human soul,
Ah! the smile speaks naught of sorrow,
Though with sadness it may vie,—
But no solace can we borrow
From the mockery of a sigh.
Oh! who would wish to treasure
Aught of life’s tinsel show,
When, with every draught of pleasure,
Is drained the dregs of woe!
Yet every sigh of sadness,
And every pang of pain,
Is thrilled with a sense of gladness,
We cannot quite explain,—
But deep where the waters darkle,
And surges ever moan,
True pearls of splendor sparkle
That may deck a kingly crown.
The Grave of a United Empire Loyalist. I. ON the brow of a hill two tall oak trees expanding enclose
A deep archway of shadow that clasps in its bosom a tomb;
And oft have I seen as the sun in full glory uprose,
How he peered o’er the steep of the hill through that archway of gloom.
II. Then when evening would fall, and night with her dewyfinger
Pressed on her chilly lips, would hush in deep stillness the hour,
There in that archway the dying sunlight would linger,
And tarry longest as if held by some mystical power.
III. And oft in the noonday of youth, when the sunlight there lay,
Have I turned my footsteps to pass by that archway, which seemed
To swing wide its portals and welcome the ebb-tide of day,
While the oak trees stood pensive, as though they inwardly dreamed.
IV. I remember the rustic rail-fence half fallen in ruin,
Like the surf-dashed wreck of a vessel upheaved on the shore,
With its timbers half clinging together, half scattered, yet true in
Its station remaining, and true to its purpose of yore.
V.
VII. Long, long had it been since the patriot there had been borne,
Long years since he fought for his king, for his country he bled;
But lament yet thy loss, O my country! thy loss deeply mourn,
’Tis meet thou should’st mourn, ever mourn for a patriot dead.
VIII. He fought for his country and king, and naught could he claim,
But a loyalist patriot’s grave—yet oh, better by far
Than an empty bauble ever vaunting in Liberty’s name,
And a rebel grave upheaved beneath Victory’s star.
IX. Oh, mourn thou my country, ’tis well thus a vigil to keep,
And a tribute be paid to one who so loved you and blent
His being with thine; let him sleep, it is well, let him sleep—
A hill-top his grave, a country his monument.
X. Yet not here alone, but in many a spot may be found,
Neglected and lone, though still cherished, our Loyalists’ graves;
And no footfall of rebel or foeman shall ever resound,
While the flag of their faith and their freedom above them still waves.
XI. Yes, peaceful they rest on thy hill-tops, O fair Canada,
The brave on whose valor the dawn of thy hope first arose;
And should glory decline, and thy day-star fade slowly away,
The sunlight of hope would still linger where’er they repose.
O’er Crag and O’er Dune. I. O’ER crag and o’er dune, through the vale and the grove,
Adown the wild rivulet swept,
From fountains unseen, in the caverns above,
Where Winter his night-revels kept;
And loudly it laughed as it eddied and whirled,
Surging round in its gladsome career;
For Spring had come forth with her banners unfurled,
Giving joy, giving joy to the year.
II. And I saw, as the broad summer sun rose on high,
And poured down his flood-tide of light,
That the rivulet shrank till you scarce could descry
Its glimmer and wonted delight.
Then the winds, as they swept by its desolate shore,
Broke mournfully on the lone ear;
For the flowers that bloomed on its banks were no more—
In the dust they lay withered and sere.
III. ’Tis thus in the springtime of life, oh! how oft
Ambition’s full tide clearly flows,
And the winds, half oppressed with perfume, breathe so soft
Till the broad summer sun deeply glows.
Then the rivulet shrinks in its cold, flinty bed,
And the winds, with their doleful refrain,
Drift the sere, withered leaves of fond hopes that are dead,
And mourn o’er life’s desolate plain.
They But Dream Who Believe. THEY but dream who believe that the heart can be ever
Found true in its fervent devotion,
That naught in the noon-tide of youth can e’er sever
The bonds of enchanting emotion;
For stern Fate commands—and the day-star grows pale,
And the angels weep softly above,
And we hear, mid the sound of a low, broken wail,
“Oh, what is more faithless than love?”
But some heart must break, though the world still moves on,
Unmindful of smiles and of tears;
And some bosom must throb with the light of life gone,
Alone through the desolate years!
The Magic Ring.[C] I. OH, had I the ring which the Talmud says
The Prince of Sages wore,
I’d flash on thy soul its magic rays,
And all mystery there explore!
II. There would be no secret, dark, ill-boding,
But my mind should read aright;
No nameless horror forever goading,—
As vague as the visions of night.
III. But restless dreams should then have peace,
And sorrow be banished from view,
And anguish and toil forever cease;—
For I’d know if one heart be true.
An Autumnal Dirge. I. PALE shines the sun through azure-lidded clouds
That softly float in ambient light arrayed,
And a dull, shadowy gloom anon enshrouds
The leafless forest and the opening glade.
II. No sound is heard save the soft-chanting waves
Low murmuring on the shadowy-mantled sea,
And the sad, moaning dirges in their caves
Struggling, like fettered spirits, to get free.
III. But as the day declines, the slanting beams
In mellow lustre shine so calm and pure;
A radiant flood of sunset glory streams,
That lovelier grows and lovelier grows obscure.
IV. Thus passed the day through Hesper’s gates of gold,
Hushing in wonder-like repose the earth,
Proclaiming, with its colors, bright and bold,
The tidings of a glorious morrow’s birth.
V. Ah! many a life like this, in dark despair
Is doomed to bear the burden of its sorrow,
But in its sunset depths a beauty rare
Foretells the dawning of a happy morrow.
VI. Let us be patient,—life has many woes,
And hopes like autumn leaves fall thick and fast;
But a dark day has oft a beauteous close,
And a sweet dawn is the reward at last.
Songs Unsung. I. THERE are songs yet unsung, that, though silent, we feel,
As over the soul their faint melodies steal;
Like the spell of enchantment which fairies would weave,
To fetter the victim they mean to deceive.
II. ’Tis vain to resist them: by day and by night
They impart to the soul a deep, quiet delight,
And we feel that their language the sense overpowers,
As the air when oppressed with the perfume of flowers.
III. When sorrow’s dark shadows come like a death pall,
And the dead leaves of hope by adversity fall,
They come o’er the desert that looms in the heart,
And a newness, a freshness, a verdure impart.
IV. In the blue purpling waves of the sun-tinted sky,
In the moonbeam, the sunbeam, the vesper’s low sigh,
In the still quiet eve, and the night-wind’s low moan,
Unembodied in words, yet to thought are they known.
V. In the low languid zephyr that steals through the dell,
With a sweetness and sadness like lovers’ farewell;
In each flower and meadow, each leaflet and brook,
They each add a page to that mystical book.
VI. O’er each object of nature alike they unfold
A veil of deep mystery ever untold;
For the rose in its modest and calm peaceful rest,
Has infinite secrets enclosed in its breast.
VII. Can it be that the spirit of genius yet lives,
And to nature this chain of enchantment thus gives;
That the souls of the dead, in this beautiful guise,
Beam out like the light of some love angel’s eyes?
VIII. Ah, no!—’tis a glory through life’s mist that strays,
Like the dawning of morn through an autumn’s thick haze,
’Tis the light of a glory for ever to shine,
’Tis a something within us—a something divine.
Compages Ossium.
(Lines composed while looking into an opened grave from my study window.) I. IN sad reflection thee I scan,
Lone tenant of this cell;
Oh, could’st thou speak to mortal man,
What mysteries would’st thou tell!
II. Here hast thou lain in sleep profound,
And years, long years, have fled,
Since friends and loved ones, gathering round,
Wept o’er thy lowly bed.
III. Perchance through long and lonely hours,
With heart-sick grief they mourned;
And clad thy early grave with flowers,
As oft as spring returned.
IV. Perchance ’twas wit or beauty’s queen,
Or wealth, that here lies low;
But who or what thou may’st have been,
It matters nothing now.
V. What thoughts were thine, what dreams of fame,
What pride that would transcend!
But grief, or guilt, or woe, or shame,
All here would seem to end.
VI. We little know, perchance thy bier
Was borne by willing knave,
Whose ruthless hand hath laid thee here
To fill a pauper’s grave.
VII. In sad reflection thee I scan,
Lone tenant of this cell;
Oh, could’st thou speak to mortal man,
What mysteries would’st thou tell!
VIII. Now all is o’er—how vain, how weak,
Are earthly strife and power—
The bubble on the brooklet’s cheek,
The tempest of an hour.
IX. Oh, human pride, how weak, how vain!
An evanescent breath;
Oh life!—the memory of a pain,
That will not die with death.
X. What checkered things our lives will be,
How awful to behold,
When in eternity we see
Life’s motley web unrolled!
Mystics. I. TWO rose bushes grew side by side:
The light of heaven bathed them both;
The dews of heaven decked them both;
Yet one grew tall and beauteous to behold,
The other drooped and died,
Its beauty all untold.
The dews that decked the one to bloom,
But decked the other for the tomb;—
What mystery in their growth!
II. Shadows were they of something real,
Shadows which none may ever see,
But every heart may feel.
The light of heaven bathed them both,
The dews of heaven decked them both,
And both were wrapped in mystery;
Yet one was doomed to sturdy growth,—
The other doomed to die!
And who may ask the reason why?
Having been something, can they be
Nothing to all eternity?
Eyes That Are Used to Weeping. I. Eyes that are used to weeping
Through lonely hours of gloom,
And silent vigils keeping
O’er a loved but hopeless tomb;
From beyond Life’s dusky curtain,
From the shore of the dim unknown—
Where vague shadows flit uncertain—
Comes a message all thine own:
“The deeper becomes the measure
Of the cup of grief you drain,
The larger the draught of pleasure
For you it may contain.”
II. Hearts that are used to breaking
O’er vows that have come to naught,
That, in hopeless silence aching,
With pain are overfraught;
Though Life’s taper be dimly burning,
So that shadows faintly fall,
There comes through this vale of mourning
A spirit voice to all:
“The deeper becomes the measure
Of the cup of grief you drain,
The larger the draught of pleasure
For you it may contain.”
Oh, Thou Hast Wept Long. I. OH, thou hast wept long, yet thy heart is still aching;
There are tears that ne’er fall, though the sad heart be breaking;
And that bright day of hope—all too soon ’tis passed o’er,
And the light of thy life has gone out evermore.
II. When the heart is left lonely there’s naught can atone:
Though a nation weep with thee—thou weepest alone;
And thine is a sorrow too deep e’en for tears
To relieve the lone heart through the desolate years.
III. We are told that a goddess once dwelt here below,
Who, for some sad mischance, was doomed ever to woe;
And her tears, as they fell on this cold world of ours,
Springing up from the dust, bloomed in bright fragrant flowers.
IV. And oft have I gazed on those sad eyes of thine,
Where beauty’s soft lustre seems ever to shine,
And have thought that the tears of the just may yet bloom
In fragrance and beauty beyond the dark tomb.
Transition. I. I AROSE at that dim-lined hour,
When the day and the morning meet;
And I passed by the city tower,
Far, far through the dusty street.
And I went by meadows and fountains
Till I came where frowning high,
A range of towering mountains
Hid their summits in the sky.
II. But a troubled spirit led me,
Lured by some guiding star,
And o’er the dim heights sped me,
To sunset realms afar;
So with yearning and strife that seemed ever
To be linked with toil and pain,
I crossed with a mighty endeavor,
And passed beyond in the plain.
III. And a nameless terror bound me
As I gazed on those earth-born spires,
Which, towering above and around me,
Seemed wrapped in lurid fires;
And a spirit of doubt passed o’er me,
And I murmured with half-bowed head,
“Hath ever a mortal before me
Crossed over a height so dread?”
IV. But on I passed, unheeding,
Through the noontide’s ebbing light,
While, ever behind me receding,
Sank the mountains lessening height;
Till at last ’neath the distant heaven,
The scarce seen crests upreared
In the purple waves of even,
Sank down and disappeared.
V. I arose at that dim-lined hour,
When youth and manhood meet,
But Grief and o’erwhelming power
Cast her burden at my feet;
And it rose like a mountain dreary,
And my heart was faint within,
For my soul grew sick and weary
In a world of death and sin.
VI. But with yearning and strife that seemed ever
To be linked with toil and pain,
I crossed with a mighty endeavor
And passed beyond in life’s plain;
And as the broad noon was sinking;
I beheld in the distant light
The giant mountain shrinking
And fading on my sight.
VII. Now the sunset shadow lengthens,
While the light of evening fails,
And the holy calm which strengthens
The worn out soul prevails;
And I look to the distant heaven,
Where the mountain late upreared,
And lo, in the purple even
It hath almost disappeared!
The Mystery of the Sea. I. THE good ship cleared the harbor bar,
And a fair west wind was blowing;
The misty mainland, stretching far,
O’er the sunlit sea was glowing.
II. And the captain paused as the deck he paced,
While visions of home came o’er him;
And a weeping mother his fancy traced
In the scenes that passed before him.
III. And in the cabin with tiny hands
Two children together were playing,
While a weary mother in mission lands,
Heart-sick for them was praying.
IV. Years passed—so long, so lone the time
Since the good ship had departed,
And in Columbia’s sunny clime
Died a mother, broken-hearted.
V. Years passed—and a mother forlorn, alone,
Aweary with waiting and sighing,
Afar in India’s burning zone
Lay, broken-hearted, dying.
VI. And the cruel, restless, rolling ocean
Complains its bitter part;
But oh, far down ’neath the waves wild motion
Lies the grave of many a heart!
Faith. I. THOU hast seen how a ring in its clasp may enfold
A diamond more dazzling, more precious than gold;
And the gem to the ring gives a lustre more bright,
Like the glance from the eye of an angel of light.
II. Thus Faith is a ring, we may see in its grasp
A gem more resplendent than gold may enclasp;
’Tis the Pearl of great Price set by Heaven above
In that ring is the gift of obedient love.
A Lament.
(From an unpublished Drama written in early life.) I. ONCE lightly I roamed o’er these green fields and meadows;
As bright as my future all things seemed to shine;
And in the clear heavens there hovered no shadows,
For all seemed a realm of glory divine.
II. Now changed is this realm—all bliss has departed,
And chill does the river of life seem to flow;
In these meadows and moors, where I wandered light-hearted,
Naught, naught can I trace but a region of woe.
III. Now in the bright woodland the sweet birds are singing,
Their notes in soft concord float through the calm air;
While in deepest distress now my sad heart is wringing,
And ever must throb ’neath a burden of care.
IV. My heart, that once beat with a rapid emotion,
Now droops like the vine in the winter’s cold blast;
Its tendrils have withered, and weary its motion,
As the dirges, recoiling, sweep moaningly past.
V. No more o’er the days of my childhood I’ll ponder,
No more o’er those scenes which I once held so dear;
But, with grief my allotment, I’ll drearily wander
Life’s dark vale of gloom but a while—yet fore’er.
VI. The sunbeams they come—but they melt not my sadness;
The bright buds they ope—but they mock with their bloom;
For, ah! the next time that they bloom in their gladness,
They’ll bloom but to fade on my desolate tomb.
Ember Pictures. I. WHEN silence and darkness fling their chain
O’er life’s contemplative hour,
And our thoughts, in a dream-like mazy train,
Flit off to memory’s bower;
There’s a lingering breath of a faint perfume,
That in madness we love to cherish,
Like a flower in bloom on a sepulchral tomb,
That is hopelessly doomed to perish.
II. We linger a while in this magic spell,
By the weirdness of thought enchanted,
Till ghostly phantoms rise and swell,
And the soul is vision-haunted.
But the charm enthralls us like a swoon;
In its sweetness we love to languish,
Though the shrivelled heart, like the waning moon,
Sinks down in bitter anguish.
III. But when from the mind we deign to fling
This shadowy, death-like legion,
Why do our thoughts in ardor cling
To that ghastly peopled region?
There’s a spirit within—the chainless soul—
That points to the world of spirits;
And a destiny great, beyond mortal control,
That the soul itself inherits.
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