Songs of Many Seasons (1862-74) | Page 5

and spindle?The patient flax, how great a flame?Yon little spark shall kindle!?The lurid morning shall reveal?A fire no king can smother?Where British flint and Boston steel?Have clashed against each other!?Old charters shrivel in its track,?His Worship's bench has crumbled,
It climbs and clasps the union-jack,?Its blazoned pomp is humbled,?The flags go down on land and sea?Like corn before the reapers;?So burned the fire that brewed the tea?That Boston served her keepers!
The waves that wrought a century's wreck?Have rolled o'er whig and tory;?The Mohawks on the Dartmouth's deck?Still live in song and story;?The waters in the rebel bay?Have kept the tea-leaf savor;?Our old North-Enders in their spray?Still taste a Hyson flavor;?And Freedom's teacup still o'erflows?With ever fresh libations,?To cheat of slumber all her foes?And cheer the wakening nations
1874.
NEARING THE SNOW-LINE
SLOW toiling upward from' the misty vale,?I leave the bright enamelled zones below;?No more for me their beauteous bloom shall glow,?Their lingering sweetness load the morning gale;?Few are the slender flowerets, scentless, pale,?That on their ice-clad stems all trembling blow?Along the margin of unmelting snow;?Yet with unsaddened voice thy verge I hail,?White realm of peace above the flowering line;?Welcome thy frozen domes, thy rocky spires!?O'er thee undimmed the moon-girt planets shine,?On thy majestic altars fade the fires?That filled the air with smoke of vain desires,?And all the unclouded blue of heaven is thine!
1870.
IN WARTIME
TO CANAAN
A PURITAN WAR SONG
This poem, published anonymously in the Boston Evening Transcript, was claimed by several persons, three, if I remember correctly, whose names I have or have had, but never thought it worth while to publish.
WHERE are you going, soldiers,?With banner, gun, and sword??We 're marching South to Canaan?To battle for the Lord?What Captain leads your armies?Along the rebel coasts??The Mighty One of Israel,?His name is Lord of Hosts!?To Canaan, to Canaan?The Lord has led us forth,?To blow before the heathen walls?The trumpets of the North!
What flag is this you carry?Along the sea and shore??The same our grandsires lifted up,--?The same our fathers bore?In many a battle's tempest?It shed the crimson rain,--?What God has woven in his loom?Let no man rend in twain!?To Canaan, to Canaan?The Lord has led us forth,?To plant upon the rebel towers?The banners of the North!
What troop is this that follows,?All armed with picks and spades??These are the swarthy bondsmen,--?The iron-skin brigades!?They'll pile up Freedom's breastwork,?They 'LL scoop out rebels' graves;?Who then will be their owner?And march them off for slaves??To Canaan, to Canaan?The Lord has led us forth,?To strike upon the captive's chain?The hammers of the North!
What song is this you're singing??The same that Israel sung?When Moses led the mighty choir,?And Miriam's timbrel rung!?To Canaan! To Canaan!?The priests and maidens cried:?To Canaan! To Canaan!?The people's voice replied.?To Canaan, to Canaan?The Lord has led us forth,?To thunder through its adder dens?The anthems of the North
When Canaan's hosts are scattered,?And all her walls lie flat,?What follows next in order??The Lord will see to that?We'll break the tyrant's sceptre,--?We 'll build the people's throne,--?When half the world is Freedom's,?Then all the world's our own?To Canaan, to Canaan?The Lord has led us forth,?To sweep the rebel threshing-floors,?A whirlwind from the North
August 12, 1862.
"THUS SAITH THE LORD, I OFFER THEE THREE THINGS."
IN poisonous dens, where traitors hide?Like bats that fear the day,?While all the land our charters claim?Is sweating blood and breathing flame,?Dead to their country's woe and shame,?The recreants whisper STAY!
In peaceful homes, where patriot fires?On Love's own altars glow,?The mother hides her trembling fear,?The wife, the sister, checks a tear,?To breathe the parting word of cheer,?Soldier of Freedom, Go!
In halls where Luxury lies at ease,?And Mammon keeps his state,?Where flatterers fawn and menials crouch,?The dreamer, startled from his couch,?Wrings a few counters from his pouch,?And murmurs faintly WAIT!
In weary camps, on trampled plains?That ring with fife and drum,?The battling host, whose harness gleams?Along the crimson-flowing streams,?Calls, like a warning voice in dreams,?We want you, Brother! COME!
Choose ye whose bidding ye will do,--?To go, to wait, to stay!?Sons of the Freedom-loving town,?Heirs of the Fathers' old renown,?The servile yoke, the civic crown,?Await your choice To-DAY!
The stake is laid! O gallant youth?With yet unsilvered brow,?If Heaven should lose and Hell should win,?On whom shall lie the mortal sin,?That cries aloud, It might have been??God calls you--answer NOW.
1862.
NEVER OR NOW
AN APPEAL
LISTEN, young heroes! your country is calling!?Time strikes the hour for the brave and the true!?Now, while the foremost are fighting and falling,?Fill up the ranks that have opened for you!
You whom the fathers made free and defended,?Stain not the scroll that emblazons their fame?You whose fair heritage spotless descended,?Leave not your children a birthright of shame!
Stay not for questions while Freedom. stands gasping!?Wait not till Honor lies wrapped in his pall!?Brief the lips' meeting be, swift the hands' clasping,--?"Off for the wars!" is enough for them all!
Break from the arms that would fondly caress you!?Hark! 't is the