At Sundown

洲
Project Gutenberg EBook, At Sundown, by Whittier?Part 5, From Volume IV., The Works of Whittier: Personal Poems #30 in our series by John Greenleaf Whittier
Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers*****
Title: At Sundown
Part 5, From Volume IV., The Works of Whittier: Personal Poems
Author: John Greenleaf Whittier
Release Date: December 2005 [EBook #9585]?[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]?[This file was first posted on October 18, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
? START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, AT SUNDOWN, PART 5 ***
This eBook was produced by David Widger [[email protected] ]
AT SUNDOWN
BY
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER
AT SUNDOWN.
TO E. C. S.?THE CHRISTMAS OF 1888.?THE VOW OF WASHINGTON?THE CAPTAIN'S WELL?AN OUTDOOR RECEPTION?R. S. S., AT DEER ISLAND ON THE MERRIMAC?BURNING DRIFT-WOOD.?O. W. HOLMES ON HIS EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY?JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL?HAVERHILL. 1640-1890?TO G. G.?PRESTON POWERS, INSCRIPTION FOR BASS-RELIEF?LYDIA H. SIGOURNEY, INSCRIPTION ON TABLET?MILTON, ON MEMORIAL WINDOW?THE BIRTHDAY WREATH?THE WIND OF MARCH?BETWEEN THE GATES?THE LAST EVE OF SUMMER?TO OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, 8TH Mo. 29TH, 1892
AT SUNDOWN
TO E. C. S.
Poet and friend of poets, if thy glass?Detects no flower in winter's tuft of grass,?Let this slight token of the debt I owe?Outlive for thee December's frozen day,?And, like the arbutus budding under snow,?Take bloom and fragrance from some morn of May?When he who gives it shall have gone the way?Where 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 waste?Of 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 world?The moon's ghost fled, the smoke of home-hearths curled?Up the still air unblown.?In Orient warmth and brightness, did that morn?O'er Nain and Nazareth, when the Christ was born,?Break fairer than our own?
The morning's promise noon and eve fulfilled?In warm, soft sky and landscape hazy-hilled?And 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 star?Seemed 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 sun?Lay 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 Sea?How 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 part?The 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 bent?Their gaze on Freedom's great experiment.
Could it succeed? Of honor sold?And 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 strong?In hate of fraud and selfish wrong,?Pretence that turns her holy truths to lies,?And lawless license masking in her guise.
Land of his love! with one glad voice?Let thy great sisterhood rejoice;?A century's suns o'er thee have risen and set,?And, God be praised, we