 | [The only foe, in] Younger American poets : 1830-1890 |  |
494
THE ONLY FOE.
Wild, threatening sky, white, raging sea,
Fierce wind that rends the rifted cloud,
Sets the new moon's sharp glitter free,
And thunders eastward, roaring loud!
Fierce wind that rends the rifted cloud,
Sets the new moon's sharp glitter free,
And thunders eastward, roaring loud!
A fury rides the autumn blast,
The hoary brine is torn and tossed;
Great Nature through her spaces vast
Casts her keen javelins of the frost.
The hoary brine is torn and tossed;
Great Nature through her spaces vast
Casts her keen javelins of the frost.
Her hand that in the summer days
Soothed us with tender touch of joy,
Deals death upon her wintry ways;
Whom she caressed she would destroy.
Soothed us with tender touch of joy,
Deals death upon her wintry ways;
Whom she caressed she would destroy.
Life shrinks and hides; all creatures cower
While her tremendous bolts are hurled,
That strike with blind, insensate power
The mighty shoulder of the world.
While her tremendous bolts are hurled,
That strike with blind, insensate power
The mighty shoulder of the world.
Be still, my soul, thou hast no part
In her black moods of hate and fear;
Lifted above her wrath thou art,
On thy still heights, serene and clear.
In her black moods of hate and fear;
Lifted above her wrath thou art,
On thy still heights, serene and clear.
Remember this,—not all the wild,
Huge, untamed elements have force
To reach thee, though the seas were piled
In weltering mountains on thy course.
Huge, untamed elements have force
To reach thee, though the seas were piled
In weltering mountains on thy course.
Only thyself thyself can harm.
Forget it not! And full of peace,
As if the south wind whispered warm,
Wait thou till storm and tumult cease.
Forget it not! And full of peace,
As if the south wind whispered warm,
Wait thou till storm and tumult cease.
| [The only foe, in] Younger American poets : 1830-1890 | |