Songs of Many Seasons (1862-74) | Page 9

communion,?Blend your broad flashes with evening's bright star!?God bless the Empire that loves the Great Union;?Strength to her people! Long life to the Czar!
AT THE BANQUET TO THE GRAND DUKE ALEXIS
DECEMBER 9, 1871
ONE word to the guest we have gathered to greet!?The echoes are longing that word to repeat,--?It springs to the lips that are waiting to part,?For its syllables spell themselves first in the heart.
Its accents may vary, its sound may be strange,?But it bears a kind message that nothing can change;?The dwellers by Neva its meaning can tell,?For the smile, its interpreter, shows it full well.
That word! How it gladdened the Pilgrim yore,?As he stood in the snow on the desolate shore!?When the shout of the sagamore startled his ear?In the phrase of the Saxon, 't was music to hear!
Ah, little could Samoset offer our sire,--?The cabin, the corn-cake, the seat by the fire;?He had nothing to give,--the poor lord of the land,--?But he gave him a WELCOME,--his heart in his hand!
The tribe of the sachem has melted away,?But the word that he spoke is remembered to-day,?And the page that is red with the record of shame?The tear-drops have whitened round Samoset's name.
The word that he spoke to the Pilgrim of old?May sound like a tale that has often been told;?But the welcome we speak is as fresh as the dew,--?As the kiss of a lover, that always is new!
Ay, Guest of the Nation! each roof is thine own?Through all the broad continent's star-bannered zone;?From the shore where the curtain of morn is uprolled,?To the billows that flow through the gateway of gold.
The snow-crested mountains are calling aloud;?Nevada to Ural speaks out of the cloud,?And Shasta shouts forth, from his throne in the sky,?To the storm-splintered summits, the peaks of Altai!
You must leave him, they say, till the summer is green!?Both shores are his home, though the waves roll between;?And then we'll return him, with thanks for the same,?As fresh and as smiling and tall as he came.
But ours is the region of arctic delight;?We can show him auroras and pole-stars by night;?There's a Muscovy sting in the ice-tempered air,?And our firesides are warm and our maidens are fair.
The flowers are full-blown in the garlanded hall,--?They will bloom round his footsteps wherever they fall;?For the splendors of youth and the sunshine they bring?Make the roses believe 't is the summons of Spring.
One word of our language he needs must know well,?But another remains that is harder to spell;?We shall speak it so ill, if he wishes to learn?How we utter Farewell, he will have to return!
AT THE BANQUET TO THE CHINESE EMBASSY
AUGUST 21, 1868
BROTHERS, whom we may not reach?Through the veil of alien speech,?Welcome! welcome! eyes can tell?What the lips in vain would spell,--?Words that hearts can understand,?Brothers from the Flowery Land!
We, the evening's latest born,?Hail the children of the morn!?We, the new creation's birth,?Greet the lords of ancient earth,?From their storied walls and towers?Wandering to these tents of ours!
Land of wonders, fair Cathay,?Who long hast shunned the staring day,?Hid in mists of poet's dreams?By thy blue and yellow streams,--?Let us thy shadowed form behold,--?Teach us as thou didst of old.
Knowledge dwells with length of days;?Wisdom walks in ancient ways;?Thine the compass that could guide?A nation o'er the stormy tide,?Scourged by passions, doubts, and fears,?Safe through thrice a thousand years!
Looking from thy turrets gray?Thou hast seen the world's decay,--?Egypt drowning in her sands,--?Athens rent by robbers' hands,--?Rome, the wild barbarian's prey,?Like a storm-cloud swept away:
Looking from thy turrets gray?Still we see thee. Where are they??And to I a new-born nation waits,?Sitting at the golden gates?That glitter by the sunset sea,--?Waits with outspread arms for thee!
Open wide, ye gates of gold,?To the Dragon's banner-fold!?Builders of the mighty wall,?Bid your mountain barriers fall!?So may the girdle of the sun.?Bind the East and West in one,
Till Mount Shasta's breezes fan?The snowy peaks of Ta Sieue-Shan,--?Till Erie blends its waters blue?With the waves of Tung-Ting-Hu,--?Till deep Missouri lends its flow?To swell the rushing Hoang-Ho!
AT THE BANQUET TO THE JAPANESE EMBASSY
AUGUST 2, 1872
WE welcome you, Lords of the Land of the Sun!?The voice of the many sounds feebly through one;?Ah! would 't were a voice of more musical tone,?But the dog-star is here, and the song-birds have flown.
And what shall I sing that can cheat you of smiles,?Ye heralds of peace from the Orient isles??If only the Jubilee--Why did you wait??You are welcome, but oh! you're a little too late!
We have greeted our brothers of Ireland and France,?Round the fiddle of Strauss we have joined in the dance,?We have lagered Herr Saro, that fine-looking man,?And glorified Godfrey, whose name it is Dan.
What a pity! we've missed it and you've missed it too,?We had a day ready and waiting for you;?We'd have shown you--provided, of course, you had come--?You 'd have heard--no, you would