 | Miami Woods : a golden wedding and other poems |  |
ON THE BANKS OF THE TENNESSEE.
1.
I sit by the open windowAnd look to the hills away,
Over beautiful undulations
That glow with the flowers of May—
And as the lights and the shadows
With the passing moments change,
Comes many a scene of beauty
Within my vision's range—
But there is not one among them
That is half so dear to me,
As an old log-cabin I think of
On the banks of the Tennessee.
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2.
Now up from the rolling meadows,And down from the hill-tops now,
Fresh breezes steal in at my window,
And sweetly fan my brow—
And the sounds that they gather and bring me,
From rivulet, and meadow, and hill,
Come in with a touching cadence,
And my throbbing bosom fill—
But the dearest thoughts thus waken'd,
And in tears brought back to me,
Cluster round that old log-cabin
On the banks of the Tennessee.
3.
To many a fond remembranceMy thoughts are backward cast,
As I sit by the open window
And recall the faded past—
For all along the windings
Of the ever-moving years,
Lie wrecks of hope and of purpose
That I now behold through tears—
And of all of them, the saddest
That is thus brought back to me,
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On the banks of the Tennessee.
[4.]
Glad voices now greet me daily,Sweet faces I oft behold,
Yet I sit by the open window,
And dream of the times of old—
Of a voice that on earth is silent,
Of a face that is seen no more,
Of a spirit that falter'd not ever
In the struggle of days now o'er—
And a beautiful grave comes pictured
Forever and ever to me,
From a knoll near that old log-cabin
On the banks of the Tennessee.
| Miami Woods : a golden wedding and other poems | |