 | Poems |  |
208
WHEN THE EARTH'S OVERSHADOWED.
When the earth's overshadowed by cloud and by gloom,
And the tempests burst forth, black as death from their tomb—
When the pine-forests crash to the storm-gusts, and roar,—
When the loud breakers dash 'gainst the rock-crested shore!
When the sounds of the night are of terror and might,
And the wild ocean-eagle sweeps past in his flight—
When thunders and darkness are rolling and heaving,
And through midnight the lightnings are fitfully cleaving!
Then my heart is possessed
By a rapture of rest!—
Then break, as by magic, the harsh heavy links,
From whose grinding and crushing my worn spirit shrinks!
The links of that chain, ever mouldering and maddening
The heart of my youth! and surrounding and saddening
All bright mortal objects vouchsafed to my view,
Till its rust even poisons life's healthfullest dew!
That earth-chain that lies like a huge snake entwined
Midst the heart's wreathing tendrils—the chords of the mind!
But when thunders are gathering and threatening around—
When, like giants, the elements wrestle unbound—
Then my soul is oppressed
With a grandeur of rest!
And the tempests burst forth, black as death from their tomb—
When the pine-forests crash to the storm-gusts, and roar,—
When the loud breakers dash 'gainst the rock-crested shore!
When the sounds of the night are of terror and might,
And the wild ocean-eagle sweeps past in his flight—
When thunders and darkness are rolling and heaving,
And through midnight the lightnings are fitfully cleaving!
Then my heart is possessed
By a rapture of rest!—
209
From whose grinding and crushing my worn spirit shrinks!
The links of that chain, ever mouldering and maddening
The heart of my youth! and surrounding and saddening
All bright mortal objects vouchsafed to my view,
Till its rust even poisons life's healthfullest dew!
That earth-chain that lies like a huge snake entwined
Midst the heart's wreathing tendrils—the chords of the mind!
But when thunders are gathering and threatening around—
When, like giants, the elements wrestle unbound—
Then my soul is oppressed
With a grandeur of rest!
And yet not oppressed—for the energies froze
In the gloom of a torpor that was not repose;
And 'tis life and 'tis ecstasy then to be blest
With a conscious, a breathing, a triumphing rest!
Then the feelings that long have despaired and succumbed
No longer are silenced—no longer benumbed!
But, strengthened and heightened—unbosomed and brightened—
From a dungeon's gloom freed!—of a mountain's weight lightened—
Sweep forth, like a torrent of billows that force
Through the floodgates that pent them their jubilant course;
And I wake from my dim dream of trouble and care,
To find life may be lovely, and nature be fair!
O! those storms seem to me like outpourings of love—
But the outspreading of thy brooding wings, heavenly Dove!—
Since there never yet raged so terrific a storm
But dim outlines—faint shadowings, of that mighty form
Seem glimpsed through the lightnings—impressed on the gloom—
Like that bright angel-presence of old by the tomb!
Thou would'st seem, dread Omnipotence! never more nigh
Than when mercy and power burst at once from the sky!
Ah! the dreariest storm is but harbinger dark
Of that still-smiling bow that smiled over the ark!
Then, ye tempests!—appointed, and measured, and weighed,
O'erwhelm the wide earth with your gloom and your shade!
Let my soul be compressed
In magnificent rest!
In the gloom of a torpor that was not repose;
210
With a conscious, a breathing, a triumphing rest!
Then the feelings that long have despaired and succumbed
No longer are silenced—no longer benumbed!
But, strengthened and heightened—unbosomed and brightened—
From a dungeon's gloom freed!—of a mountain's weight lightened—
Sweep forth, like a torrent of billows that force
Through the floodgates that pent them their jubilant course;
And I wake from my dim dream of trouble and care,
To find life may be lovely, and nature be fair!
O! those storms seem to me like outpourings of love—
But the outspreading of thy brooding wings, heavenly Dove!—
Since there never yet raged so terrific a storm
But dim outlines—faint shadowings, of that mighty form
211
Like that bright angel-presence of old by the tomb!
Thou would'st seem, dread Omnipotence! never more nigh
Than when mercy and power burst at once from the sky!
Ah! the dreariest storm is but harbinger dark
Of that still-smiling bow that smiled over the ark!
Then, ye tempests!—appointed, and measured, and weighed,
O'erwhelm the wide earth with your gloom and your shade!
Let my soul be compressed
In magnificent rest!
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