 | The poetical works of Lucy Larcom |  |
OUR ALUMNI.
FOR A MEETING OF THE MONTICELLO SEMINARY ASSOCIATION, ILLINOIS.
Two worlds I live in, East and West:
I cannot tell which world is best;
The friends that people both are dear;
The same glad sun
Shines into each; far-off is near,
And then is now, and there is here;
Both worlds are one.
I cannot tell which world is best;
The friends that people both are dear;
The same glad sun
Shines into each; far-off is near,
And then is now, and there is here;
Both worlds are one.
What have the years to do with youth?
Present and Past unite, in sooth;
Morning and noon in day have met:
Time but unfurls
Life's wings; can we our own forget?
I have not lost my girlhood yet,
Dear Western girls!
Present and Past unite, in sooth;
Morning and noon in day have met:
Time but unfurls
Life's wings; can we our own forget?
I have not lost my girlhood yet,
Dear Western girls!
With you a stately home I share,
Into whose windows the soft air
Comes singing from the wilderness,
Of mighty streams,
Great forests in primeval dress,
And sea-like prairies—a vague guess
Of scents and gleams.
Into whose windows the soft air
Comes singing from the wilderness,
Of mighty streams,
Great forests in primeval dress,
And sea-like prairies—a vague guess
Of scents and gleams.
The whippoorwills are crowding near;
The katydids have paused, to hear
What girls inlocked with girls can say,
Who slowly pace
At dusk the long, tree-cloistered way,
While twilight's flickering touches play
From face to face.
The katydids have paused, to hear
What girls inlocked with girls can say,
Who slowly pace
At dusk the long, tree-cloistered way,
While twilight's flickering touches play
From face to face.
At school-girl-friendship let them smile
Who never felt its charm beguile
The mystery of the untried years;
The thoughts that grow
To Atlas-weight of nameless fears;
The awed foreseeing that endears
Its sharers so!
Who never felt its charm beguile
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The thoughts that grow
To Atlas-weight of nameless fears;
The awed foreseeing that endears
Its sharers so!
How large our world around us spread!
How deep our skies grew overhead!
How close our hearts together drew!
Your golden curls,
Your eyes of hazel and of blue,
I see; I live again with you,
Dear Western girls!
How deep our skies grew overhead!
How close our hearts together drew!
Your golden curls,
Your eyes of hazel and of blue,
I see; I live again with you,
Dear Western girls!
What did we talk of? Everything
That wise men write, or poets sing:
Among the gods we roamed at will:
The Olympian height,—
The solemn boughs of Ygdrasil,—
Epic and rune,—we felt their thrill
With strange delight.
That wise men write, or poets sing:
Among the gods we roamed at will:
The Olympian height,—
The solemn boughs of Ygdrasil,—
Epic and rune,—we felt their thrill
With strange delight.
Victories by Greek or Trojan won;
The wanderings of Anchises' son;
Pericles, Cæsar, Charlemagne;
The Viking bold;
The Saxon's contest with the Dane;
Knights and Crusades: the Norman's reign;
The Cloth of Gold:
The wanderings of Anchises' son;
Pericles, Cæsar, Charlemagne;
The Viking bold;
The Saxon's contest with the Dane;
Knights and Crusades: the Norman's reign;
The Cloth of Gold:
All became real to our thought:
Heroes appeared, and fields were fought
Upon green levels where we gazed,
Nor scarcely knew
If there Admetus' cattle grazed,
Or there the flags of tourney blazed
And trumpets blew.
Heroes appeared, and fields were fought
Upon green levels where we gazed,
Nor scarcely knew
If there Admetus' cattle grazed,
Or there the flags of tourney blazed
And trumpets blew.
And sage and minstrel, gathering round,
Made the wild prairies classic ground:
Blind Homer, Plato, Socrates,
And Sappho came;
Dante's deep murmur on the breeze
Met Milton's mighty symphonies:
The scholar's name
Made the wild prairies classic ground:
Blind Homer, Plato, Socrates,
And Sappho came;
Dante's deep murmur on the breeze
Met Milton's mighty symphonies:
The scholar's name
Sounded from girlish lip to lip,
In every-day companionship:
Bacon, Descartes, Spinoza, Kant;
The mystic word
That mediæval doctors chant,
The scope great Christian thinkers grant,
Our spirits stirred.
In every-day companionship:
Bacon, Descartes, Spinoza, Kant;
The mystic word
That mediæval doctors chant,
The scope great Christian thinkers grant,
Our spirits stirred.
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And gladly always we returned
To lessons in our childhood learned,
Of one Heart that enfolds us all,
To whom we send
Our longings in one human call,
Before whose feet all ages fall—
Father and Friend!
To lessons in our childhood learned,
Of one Heart that enfolds us all,
To whom we send
Our longings in one human call,
Before whose feet all ages fall—
Father and Friend!
Dear friends, dear girls, at school we are,
Now even as then: the farthest star
Whereon hereafter we may meet
To win new lore,
Though radiant with fresh mystery sweet,
Will have some wisdom to repeat,
We learned before;
Now even as then: the farthest star
Whereon hereafter we may meet
To win new lore,
Though radiant with fresh mystery sweet,
Will have some wisdom to repeat,
We learned before;
Learned at our Alma Mater's side:
We cherish with a mutual pride,
Our Monticello's starry name—
Our Mount of Heaven,
Where to look forth on life we came;
Where pure ambitions, noble shame,
To us were given.
We cherish with a mutual pride,
Our Monticello's starry name—
Our Mount of Heaven,
Where to look forth on life we came;
Where pure ambitions, noble shame,
To us were given.
And with young hearts that gather there,
Eager to breathe the awakening air
That sweetened all our springtide way,
We sing again,
As happy friends and sisters may;
Our yesterday and their to-day
One joy remain.
Eager to breathe the awakening air
That sweetened all our springtide way,
We sing again,
As happy friends and sisters may;
Our yesterday and their to-day
One joy remain.
For sheltering care that once we knew;
For faithful guides that led us through
The widening path, the opening door,
Your thanks and mine
Rise gratefully, as oft before:
We gladly lay one offering more
Upon that shrine.
For faithful guides that led us through
The widening path, the opening door,
Your thanks and mine
Rise gratefully, as oft before:
We gladly lay one offering more
Upon that shrine.
I bind my East up with my West,
Nor ask which time or place is best:
In memory's amaranthine sheaf,
Old faiths among,
I twine the buds of new belief,—
Old loves with friendship's opening leaf,—
All fresh and young.
Nor ask which time or place is best:
In memory's amaranthine sheaf,
Old faiths among,
I twine the buds of new belief,—
Old loves with friendship's opening leaf,—
All fresh and young.
I fuse my Present with my Past,
And last is first, and first is last:
The winds that sang across the sea
In childhood's dawn
Have met the Western breezes free,
And in one lift of harmony
They bear me on.
And last is first, and first is last:
The winds that sang across the sea
In childhood's dawn
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And in one lift of harmony
They bear me on.
Dear girls, remembered or unknown,
Across your life and mine has blown
The same wild scent of prairie-flowers;
And while Time's pearls
Shower at our feet, I thank the powers
That made our youth forever ours—
Dear Western girls!
Across your life and mine has blown
The same wild scent of prairie-flowers;
And while Time's pearls
Shower at our feet, I thank the powers
That made our youth forever ours—
Dear Western girls!
| The poetical works of Lucy Larcom | |