 | The select poems of Dr. Thomas Dunn English (exclusive of the "Battle lyrics") |  |
SONG OF FIRE.
Sometime prisoned at the centre, with my throes I shake the sphere;
Through the snowy-topped volcanoes, at the surface I appear.
Then I burst through chains that bind me, startle mortals with my power;
Over prairies wide I scurry, feed on forests, towns devour.
Strike the ships midway in ocean, and the teeming towns devour.
Through the snowy-topped volcanoes, at the surface I appear.
Then I burst through chains that bind me, startle mortals with my power;
Over prairies wide I scurry, feed on forests, towns devour.
Strike the ships midway in ocean, and the teeming towns devour.
Fire they call me. I am father of the granite rocks that lie
Ages deep beneath the mountains, unperceived of mortal eye;
At my breath they sprang to being, at my touch their crystals came,
That were merely shapeless atoms ere I kissed them with my flame,
Ere with ardor I embraced them, ere I kissed them with my flame.
Ages deep beneath the mountains, unperceived of mortal eye;
At my breath they sprang to being, at my touch their crystals came,
That were merely shapeless atoms ere I kissed them with my flame,
Ere with ardor I embraced them, ere I kissed them with my flame.
Rarest gems of countless value, nuggets of the yellow gold
That through all the time historic, men and empires have controlled;
And the grim and swarthy iron, conqueror on land and sea,
With the many meaner metals, owe their birth and shape to me.
Gleaming ores and dazzling crystals owe their birth and shape to me.
That through all the time historic, men and empires have controlled;
532
With the many meaner metals, owe their birth and shape to me.
Gleaming ores and dazzling crystals owe their birth and shape to me.
When the rolling of the thunder strikes the trembling wretches dumb,
When the vision-blinding lightning rends the murky clouds, I come.
Fear attends me, horror after, ruin round me wide I cast.
Men my name with bated breathing mutter when my steps have passed;
Gazing voiceless on the ashes where my terrible steps have passed.
When the vision-blinding lightning rends the murky clouds, I come.
Fear attends me, horror after, ruin round me wide I cast.
Men my name with bated breathing mutter when my steps have passed;
Gazing voiceless on the ashes where my terrible steps have passed.
Rear they palaces of beauty, fair without and rare within,
Stores of hand-work, filled with fabrics, wealth and profits hard to win;
Temples grand, with costly altars, where the wretch for sin atones.
I appear and they are ruins, shapeless heaps of blackened stones—
Molten metal, crumbled columns, timbers charred, and blackened stones.
Stores of hand-work, filled with fabrics, wealth and profits hard to win;
Temples grand, with costly altars, where the wretch for sin atones.
I appear and they are ruins, shapeless heaps of blackened stones—
Molten metal, crumbled columns, timbers charred, and blackened stones.
Not alone on land I smite them, but with red, devouring lips
On the ocean sate my hunger with their richly freighted ships.
Swarthy sailors, pallid women, pray in vain for mercy there,
While my crackling and my roaring swell their chorus of despair—
While I dance from deck to mast-head to their chorus of despair.
On the ocean sate my hunger with their richly freighted ships.
Swarthy sailors, pallid women, pray in vain for mercy there,
While my crackling and my roaring swell their chorus of despair—
While I dance from deck to mast-head to their chorus of despair.
533
In the densely crowded city, without pity, I affright
Startled wretches roused from slumber, in the still and sombre night.
Tenement-house or brown-stone palace, either is the same to me:
If they manage to subdue me, gloomy will their triumph be—
Toppled walls upon my foeman tokens of my vengeance be.
Startled wretches roused from slumber, in the still and sombre night.
Tenement-house or brown-stone palace, either is the same to me:
If they manage to subdue me, gloomy will their triumph be—
Toppled walls upon my foeman tokens of my vengeance be.
Yet malign I am not always; witness for me truly when
I become the humble servant of the toiling sons of men.
Drive the engine, heat the furnace, melt the ore, and soften steel;
Like the monarch in the story, aid the wife to cook a meal—
Monarch, wandering from earth's centre, aid the wife to cook a meal.
I become the humble servant of the toiling sons of men.
Drive the engine, heat the furnace, melt the ore, and soften steel;
Like the monarch in the story, aid the wife to cook a meal—
Monarch, wandering from earth's centre, aid the wife to cook a meal.
Though they see me when the lightning strikes in wrath the lofty domes,
Yet I love to cheer the dwellers in the humble cottage homes.
From the hearth my flickering shadows on the wall I cast at night,
While I crackle—that's my laughter—at the children's wild delight;
As to see those tossing shadows they display their wild delight.
Yet I love to cheer the dwellers in the humble cottage homes.
From the hearth my flickering shadows on the wall I cast at night,
While I crackle—that's my laughter—at the children's wild delight;
As to see those tossing shadows they display their wild delight.
Foe of life have mortals called me—foe to all that breathes or stirs;
Hence the terror-stricken pagans are my abject worshippers.
Life! there were no life without me; and what time I shall expire,
All things growing, all things living, all shall pass away with fire.
Air, heat, motion, breath, existence—all shall pass away with fire.
Hence the terror-stricken pagans are my abject worshippers.
Life! there were no life without me; and what time I shall expire,
All things growing, all things living, all shall pass away with fire.
Air, heat, motion, breath, existence—all shall pass away with fire.
534
In the solemn Day of Judgment, at the awful time of doom,
When all quick and dead are parted, these to light and those to gloom,
Then the earth that one time bore me, wrapped within my wild embrace,
Shall behold my final splendor as I bear her out of space;
And we twain shall pass together, pass forever out of space.
When all quick and dead are parted, these to light and those to gloom,
Then the earth that one time bore me, wrapped within my wild embrace,
Shall behold my final splendor as I bear her out of space;
And we twain shall pass together, pass forever out of space.
| The select poems of Dr. Thomas Dunn English (exclusive of the "Battle lyrics") | |