 | Poems Chiefly Lyric and Elegiac |  |
21
JUSTUM ET TENACEM.
The quiet clouds, the quiet air,
The calm that haunts us everywhere
In these broad fields, where sunlight sees
Our homely cattle at their ease;
The woods, whose leaves of golden brown
Glide noiseless, as they flutter down;
The full, smooth river, seldom stirr'd
Save from within, that flows unheard
In irresistible advance;
And, over all this fair expanse,
The steadfast hills, that silently
Stand up against a silent sky:
Are these the things for you and me
To look upon, or care to see,
Amid the tumult of a war?
Yes; for they teach us what we are,
Or what we should be: every charm
Of outward Nature, every warm
And tender passion that expands
At sight of these familiar lands,
Speaks of the duty that we owe
To what we feel and what we know.
Were it not well, to have at length
Silence, and steadfastness, and strength;
Like Nature, in her woods and hills,
To stand unscared by doubt and ills,
Or, like her rivers, move along
Ineffably serene and strong;
Tranquil in victory or defeat,
Until the day's work be complete?
The calm that haunts us everywhere
In these broad fields, where sunlight sees
Our homely cattle at their ease;
The woods, whose leaves of golden brown
Glide noiseless, as they flutter down;
The full, smooth river, seldom stirr'd
Save from within, that flows unheard
In irresistible advance;
And, over all this fair expanse,
The steadfast hills, that silently
Stand up against a silent sky:
Are these the things for you and me
To look upon, or care to see,
Amid the tumult of a war?
22
Or what we should be: every charm
Of outward Nature, every warm
And tender passion that expands
At sight of these familiar lands,
Speaks of the duty that we owe
To what we feel and what we know.
Were it not well, to have at length
Silence, and steadfastness, and strength;
Like Nature, in her woods and hills,
To stand unscared by doubt and ills,
Or, like her rivers, move along
Ineffably serene and strong;
Tranquil in victory or defeat,
Until the day's work be complete?
Fools may make merry o'er our loss,
And even the wise may reel across
That line, so often tinged with blood
Which parts the evil from the good
But we, a nation such as we,
United, and resolved to see
A Present worthy of our Past,
We through each startling thunder blast
May still in confidence abide,
Untouch'd by petulance or pride,
Till happier years shall make it plain
That we, too, have not wrought in vain.
And even the wise may reel across
That line, so often tinged with blood
Which parts the evil from the good
But we, a nation such as we,
United, and resolved to see
A Present worthy of our Past,
23
May still in confidence abide,
Untouch'd by petulance or pride,
Till happier years shall make it plain
That we, too, have not wrought in vain.
| Poems Chiefly Lyric and Elegiac | |