They climb up into my turret O'er the arms and back of my chair; Is not a match for you all! I have you fast in my fortress, Till the walls shall crumble to ruin, ENCELADUS. UNDER Mount Etna he lies, It is slumber, it is not death; Are hot with his fiery breath. Are watching with eager eyes; And the old gods, the austere Stand aghast and white with fear And tremble, and mutter, "At length !" Where ashes are heaped in drifts See, see the red light shines! 'Tis the glare of his awful eyes! And the storm-wind shouts through the pines 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 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 Of the monster's hide. "Strike your flag!" the rebel cries, "It is better to sink than to yield !" Then, like a kraken huge and black, Down went the Cumberland all a wrack, And the cannon's breath For her dying gasp. Next morn, as the sun rose over the bay, 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 Even as our cloudy fancies take Suddenly shape in some divine expression, In the white countenance confession, 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, 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, Of life, that seems almost too much. I hear the wind among the trees 1860. Where through a sapphire sea the sun Towards yonder cloud-land in the West, Its craggy summits white with drifts. Blow, winds! and waft through all the rooms O Life and Love! O happy throng Of thoughts, whose only speech is song! SOMETHING LEFT UNDONE. By the bedside, on the stair, Each to-day is heavier made; Till at length the burden seems Greater than our strength can bear; And we stand from day to day, WEARINESS. O LITTLE feet! that such long years Must wander on through hopes and fears, Where toil shall cease and rest begin, Am weary, thinking of your road! Have still so long to give or ask; I, who so much with book and pen Am weary, thinking of your task. 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 Direct from heaven, their source divine; How lurid looks this soul of mine! |