Excerpt
AT SUNDOWN TO E. C. S.
Poet and friend of poets, if thy glassDetects no flower in winter's tuft of grass,Let this slight token of the debt I oweOutlive for thee December's frozen day,And, like the arbutus budding under snow,Take bloom and fragrance from some morn of MayWhen he who gives it shall have gone the wayWhere faith shall see and reverent trust shall know.
THE CHRISTMAS OF 1888.Low in the east, against a white, cold dawn,The black-lined silhouette of the woods was drawn,And on a wintry wasteOf frosted streams and hillsides bare and brown,Through thin cloud-films, a pallid ghost looked down,The waning moon half-faced!
In that pale sky and sere, snow-waiting earth,What sign was there of the immortal birth?What herald of the One?Lo! swift as thought the heavenly radiance came,A rose-red splendor swept the sky like flame,Up rolled the round, bright sun!
And all was changed. From a transfigured worldThe moon's ghost fled, the smoke of home-hearths curledUp the still air unblown.In Orient warmth and brightness, did that mornO'er Nain and Nazareth, when the Christ was born,Break fairer than our own?
The morning's promise noon and eve fulfilledIn warm, soft sky and landscape hazy-hilledAnd sunset fair as they;A sweet reminder of His holiest time,A summer-miracle in our winter clime,God gave a perfect day.
The near was blended with the old and far,And Bethlehem's hillside and the Magi's starSeemed here, as there and then,—Our homestead pine-tree was the Syrian palm,Our heart's desire the angels' midnight psalm,Peace, and good-will to men!
THE VOW OF WASHINGTON.Read in New York, April 30, 1889, at the Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington as the first President of the United States.
The sword was sheathed: in April's sunLay green the fields by Freedom won;And severed sections, weary of debates,Joined hands at last and were United States.
O City sitting by the SeaHow proud the day that dawned on thee,When the new era, long desired, began,And, in its need, the hour had found the man!
One thought the cannon salvos spoke,The resonant bell-tower's vibrant stroke,The voiceful streets, the plaudit-echoing halls,And prayer and hymn borne heavenward from St. Paul's!
How felt the land in every partThe strong throb of a nation's heart,As its great leader gave, with reverent awe,His pledge to Union, Liberty, and Law.
That pledge the heavens above him heard,That vow the sleep of centuries stirred;In world-wide wonder listening peoples bentTheir gaze on Freedom's great experiment.
Could it succeed? Of honor soldAnd hopes deceived all history told.Above the wrecks that strewed the mournful past,Was the long dream of ages true at last?
Thank God! the people's choice was just,The one man equal to his trust,Wise beyond lore, and without weakness good,Calm in the strength of flawless rectitude.
His rule of justice, order, peace,Made possible the world's release;Taught prince and serf that power is but a trust,And rule, alone, which serves the ruled, is just;
That Freedom generous is, but strongIn hate of fraud and selfish wrong,Pretence that turns her holy truths to lies,And lawless license masking in her guise....