 | Western windows and other poems |  |
128
THE LAST FIRE.
The First Fire, one remember'd night
Of chilly fall, we kindled: bright
And beautiful were its gleams!
Warming the new world all our own
And welcoming radiant futures, shone
That prophecy of our dreams!
Of chilly fall, we kindled: bright
And beautiful were its gleams!
Warming the new world all our own
And welcoming radiant futures, shone
That prophecy of our dreams!
Our window burn'd against the cold,
And faces from the dark, behold!
In transient haloes came;
The household troubadour of mirth,
The cricket, took with song our hearth
And bless'd the blessing flame.
And faces from the dark, behold!
In transient haloes came;
The household troubadour of mirth,
The cricket, took with song our hearth
And bless'd the blessing flame.
O flushing firelight, rosy-warm!
O walls with many a floating form
Of dreamy shade a-bloom!
Fancy, by Love transfigured, wrought
All miracles of tender thought,
Transfiguring the room!
O walls with many a floating form
Of dreamy shade a-bloom!
Fancy, by Love transfigured, wrought
All miracles of tender thought,
Transfiguring the room!
129
Beloved and bless'd and beautified,
God-given, Angel by my side!
The winter came and went,
And never, since the world began,
Grew sweeter happiness to man,
Or tenderer content.
God-given, Angel by my side!
The winter came and went,
And never, since the world began,
Grew sweeter happiness to man,
Or tenderer content.
At dawn we leave the place, so warm
And bright with you December's storm
Nor cold nor shadow brought:
The Last Fire warms our walls to-night;
The window breathes its wonted light,
But sadness haunts our thought.
And bright with you December's storm
Nor cold nor shadow brought:
The Last Fire warms our walls to-night;
The window breathes its wonted light,
But sadness haunts our thought.
By tenderest tides of feeling stirr'd
Your heart brings tears for every word:
I hear you murmur low,
“Here blossom'd Home for you and me—
Love walk'd without his glamoury
And stood diviner so.
Your heart brings tears for every word:
I hear you murmur low,
“Here blossom'd Home for you and me—
Love walk'd without his glamoury
And stood diviner so.
“Dear echoes, answering day by day—
We cannot take the past away!
The threshold and the floor,
Where Love's familiar steps have been
Repeated evermore within,
Are dear forever more!”
We cannot take the past away!
The threshold and the floor,
Where Love's familiar steps have been
Repeated evermore within,
Are dear forever more!”
130
Yes, but the place beloved shall be
Bequeath'd to loving Memory:
The spirits of the place,
The Larés of the household air,
Born of the heart, the heart must bear—
They know no stranger's face.
Bequeath'd to loving Memory:
The spirits of the place,
The Larés of the household air,
Born of the heart, the heart must bear—
They know no stranger's face.
The atmosphere we fill is ours:
It moves with us its sun and showers;
It is our world alone,
Vivid with all our souls create,
The plastic dream, the stone of Fate—
We take and keep our own.
It moves with us its sun and showers;
It is our world alone,
Vivid with all our souls create,
The plastic dream, the stone of Fate—
We take and keep our own.
So let the Last Fire flame and fall,
The ghostly ember-shadows crawl,
The ashes fill the hearth:
The cricket travels where we go,
And Home is but the Heaven below
Transfiguring the Earth!
The ghostly ember-shadows crawl,
The ashes fill the hearth:
The cricket travels where we go,
And Home is but the Heaven below
Transfiguring the Earth!
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