At Sundown

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
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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]
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Language: English

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0. 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