Under Mount Etna he lies, It is slumber, it is not death;For he struggles at times to arise, And above him the lurid skies Are hot with his fiery breath.
The crags are piled on his breast, The earth is heaped on his head;But the groans of his wild unrest, Though smothered and half suppressed, Are heard, and he is not dead.
And the nations far away Are watching with eager eyes;They talk together and say, "To-morrow, perhaps to-day, Euceladus will arise!
And the old gods, the austere Oppressors in their strength, Stand aghast and white with fear At the ominous sounds they hear, And tremble, and mutter, "At length!"Ah me! for the land that is sown With the harvest of despair!
Where the burning cinders, blown From the lips of the overthrown Enceladus, fill the air.
Where ashes are heaped in drifts Over vineyard and field and town, Whenever he starts and lifts His head through the blackened rifts Of the crags that keep him down.
See, see! the red light shines!
'T is the glare of his awful eyes!
And the storm-wind shouts through the pines Of Alps and of Apennines, "Enceladus, arise!"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!
SNOW-FLAKES
Out of the bosom of the Air, Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken, Over the woodlands brown and bare, Over the harvest-fields forsaken, Silent, and soft, and slow Descends the snow.
Even as our cloudy fancies take Suddenly shape in some divine expression, Even as the troubled heart doth make In the white countenance confession, The troubled sky reveals The grief it feels.
This is the poem of the air, Slowly in silent syllables recorded;This is the secret of despair, Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded, Now whispered and revealed To wood and field.
A DAY OF SUNSHINE
O gift of God! O perfect day:
Whereon shall no man work, but play;
Whereon it is enough for me, Not to be doing, but to be!
Through every fibre of my brain, Through every nerve, through every vein, I feel the electric thrill, the touch Of life, that seems almost too much.
I hear the wind among the trees Playing celestial symphonies;I see the branches downward bent, Like keys of some great instrument.
And over me unrolls on high The splendid scenery of the sky, Where though a sapphire sea the sun Sails like a golden galleon,Towards yonder cloud-land in the West, Towards yonder Islands of the Blest, Whose steep sierra far uplifts Its craggy summits white with drifts.
Blow, winds! and waft through all the rooms The snow-flakes of the cherry-blooms!
Blow, winds! and bend within my reach The fiery blossoms of the peach!
O Life and Love! O happy throng Of thoughts, whose only speech is song!
O heart of man! canst thou not be Blithe as the air is, and as free?
SOMETHING LEFT UNDONE
Labor with what zeal we will, Something still remains undone, Something uncompleted still Waits the rising of the sun.
By the bedside, on the stair, At the threshold, near the gates, With its menace or its prayer, Like a mendicant it waits;Waits, and will not go away;
Waits, and will not be gainsaid;
By the cares of yesterday Each to-day is heavier made;Till at length the burden seems Greater than our strength can bear, Heavy as the weight of dreams, Pressing on us everywhere.
And we stand from day to day, Like the dwarfs of times gone by, Who, as Northern legends say, On their shoulders held the sky.
WEARINESS
O little feet! that such long years Must wander on through hopes and fears, Must ache and bleed beneath your load;I, nearer to the wayside inn Where toil shall cease and rest begin, Am weary, thinking of your road!
O little hands! that, weak or strong, Have still to serve or rule so long, Have still so long to give or ask;I, who so much with book and pen Have toiled among my fellow-men, Am weary, thinking of your task.
O little hearts! that throb and beat With such impatient, feverish heat, Such limitless and strong desires;Mine that so long has glowed and burned, With passions into ashes turned Now covers and conceals its fires.
O little souls! as pure and white And crystalline as rays of light Direct from heaven, their source divine;Refracted through the mist of years, How red my setting sun appears, How lurid looks this soul of mine!
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TALES OF A WAYSIDE INN
PART FIRST
PRELUDE
THE WAYSIDE INN
One Autumn night, in Sudbury town, Across the meadows bare and brown, The windows of the wayside inn Gleamed red with fire-light through the leaves Of woodbine, hanging from the eaves Their crimson curtains rent and thin.