The complete poems of S. Weir Mitchell | ||
A CAMP IN THREE LIGHTS
Against the darkness sharply lined
Our still white tents gleamed overhead,
And dancing cones of shadow cast
When sudden flashed the camp-fire red,
Our still white tents gleamed overhead,
And dancing cones of shadow cast
When sudden flashed the camp-fire red,
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Where fragrant hummed the moist swamp-spruce,
And tongues unknown the cedar spoke,
While half a century's silent growth
Went up in cheery flame and smoke.
And tongues unknown the cedar spoke,
While half a century's silent growth
Went up in cheery flame and smoke.
Pile on the logs! A flickering spire
Of ruby flame the birch-bark gives,
And as we track its leaping sparks,
Behold in heaven the North-light lives!
Of ruby flame the birch-bark gives,
And as we track its leaping sparks,
Behold in heaven the North-light lives!
An arch of deep, supremest blue,
A band above of silver shade,
Where, like the frost-work's crystal spears,
A thousand lances grow and fade,
A band above of silver shade,
Where, like the frost-work's crystal spears,
A thousand lances grow and fade,
Or shiver, touched with palest tints
Of pink and blue, and changing die,
Or toss in one triumphant blaze
Their golden banners up the sky,
Of pink and blue, and changing die,
Or toss in one triumphant blaze
Their golden banners up the sky,
With faint, quick, silken murmurings,
A noise as of an angel's flight,
Heard like the whispers of a dream
Across the cool, clear Northern night.
A noise as of an angel's flight,
Heard like the whispers of a dream
Across the cool, clear Northern night.
Our pipes are out, the camp-fire fades,
The wild auroral ghost-lights die,
And stealing up the distant wood
The moon's white spectre floats on high,
The wild auroral ghost-lights die,
And stealing up the distant wood
The moon's white spectre floats on high,
And, lingering, sets in awful light
A blackened pine-tree's ghastly cross,
Then swiftly pays in silver white
The faded fire, the aurora's loss.
A blackened pine-tree's ghastly cross,
Then swiftly pays in silver white
The faded fire, the aurora's loss.
1870.
The complete poems of S. Weir Mitchell | ||