 | Pike County ballads and other pieces |  |
73
IN CHURCH.
I never may know the peace that sleeps
In the light serene of your kindly eyes,
As true as the sentinel-star that keeps
His circling tryst in the boreal skies.
Unknown to me is the faith they speak,
And strange the flash of their silent prayer,
And the sacred joy that climbs your cheek
To hang its fluttering signals there.
In the light serene of your kindly eyes,
As true as the sentinel-star that keeps
His circling tryst in the boreal skies.
Unknown to me is the faith they speak,
And strange the flash of their silent prayer,
And the sacred joy that climbs your cheek
To hang its fluttering signals there.
As the star-beams light on the tossing brine
And hallow the surge of its wild unrest,
Your eyes in their tender pity shine
To light the gloom of my doubting breast.
And hope springs up in their earnest gleams
As a flower that leaps from the sun-kissed sod,
And I love their light as a beacon that beams
To lead me trustingly up to God.
And hallow the surge of its wild unrest,
Your eyes in their tender pity shine
To light the gloom of my doubting breast.
74
As a flower that leaps from the sun-kissed sod,
And I love their light as a beacon that beams
To lead me trustingly up to God.
If ever I stand by the jasper sea,
Whose bright waves flash in their awful pride,
The mingled strain of my thanks shall be
That you have lived and that Christ has died.
By the life-stream glassing the Eden-flowers
I will walk with you under shadowless skies,
And on forever through amaranth bowers
I will follow the light of your guiding eyes.
Whose bright waves flash in their awful pride,
The mingled strain of my thanks shall be
That you have lived and that Christ has died.
By the life-stream glassing the Eden-flowers
I will walk with you under shadowless skies,
And on forever through amaranth bowers
I will follow the light of your guiding eyes.
108
I. CEDAR MOUNTAIN.
It was a rare good fortune to our arms,That, when the flushed foe through the mountains poured,
He found there by the rushing river-ford
One whose calm soul was stranger to alarms.
Serene amid the conflict's fiery harms,
Master of fate, of his own spirit lord,
Like that stout knight on whose firm mail the sword
Clashed shivering, glanced, nor burst the faery charms.
An Iron Man! in happier days that name
Hailed him the peaceful champion of the North;
And now the faithful years have blazoned forth
109
Twice-fortunate brow where grandly darkening down
The warrior-laurel shades the civic crown!
110
II. PORT HUDSON.
Again thy name the listening nation thrills!Coy Victory, won with war's importunate roar,
Crowns thy rough wooing by the Western shore,
As once amid Virginia's breezy hills.
The mighty thunder of thy triumph fills
The guilty South; its stealthy echoes pour
Through treason-haunted regions, evermore
Waking wild whispers, and the nameless ills
Of bondage wasting with the potent light
Of hope; for slavery death-stricken lies
Where the vague fame of thy black warrior flies.
The bloody shapes that troubled the dead night
Of woe and war fade as the dawn grows bright,
And day comes flushing up the tranquil skies.
111
AT SUNSET.
Into the grave of twilight
The red gleam fades away,
And the westering clouds grow sombre
With love of the dying day.
In the eve's soft flush
The gloaming's hush
Comes down on the rippled bay.
The red gleam fades away,
And the westering clouds grow sombre
With love of the dying day.
In the eve's soft flush
The gloaming's hush
Comes down on the rippled bay.
The towering hills stand saintly,
Each grand head halo-crowned,
And the vagrant shadows wander
To the slope of the grassy ground;
The languid breeze
Stirs not the trees
In the trancing twilight bound.
Each grand head halo-crowned,
And the vagrant shadows wander
To the slope of the grassy ground;
The languid breeze
112
In the trancing twilight bound.
Now climbs the vanishing glimmer
To the mountain's umber crest,
The sunset's molten glory
Glows gold on the water's breast;
From Heaven's dim crown
Comes kindly down
The gracious spirit of rest.
To the mountain's umber crest,
The sunset's molten glory
Glows gold on the water's breast;
From Heaven's dim crown
Comes kindly down
The gracious spirit of rest.
The cordial soul of the sunset
Steals warm to my heart like wine,
My weary eyes look fondly
Far over the glowing brine;
And tenderly beams
In a mist of dreams
A joy that shall never be mine.
Steals warm to my heart like wine,
My weary eyes look fondly
Far over the glowing brine;
And tenderly beams
In a mist of dreams
A joy that shall never be mine.
113
Sweet eyes whose proud dark splendor
Is melted in love's soft beams,
The still queen-features glorious
In the dawn of love's first gleams;
Imperial lips
In the dear eclipse
Of passion's tropical dreams.
Is melted in love's soft beams,
The still queen-features glorious
In the dawn of love's first gleams;
Imperial lips
In the dear eclipse
Of passion's tropical dreams.
Dear Heaven! to hear the rose-lips
Breathe falteringly my name,
To see the soft cheek flushing
With the joy of maiden shame!
And feel the bliss
Of her passionate kiss
Touch every vein to flame.
Breathe falteringly my name,
To see the soft cheek flushing
With the joy of maiden shame!
And feel the bliss
Of her passionate kiss
Touch every vein to flame.
And my saddened love seems lovelier
In the tender evening shine,
And a vague hope wakes that a love so true
With an answering love must twine.
That Heaven will bend
And the love descend,
For ever and ever mine!
In the tender evening shine,
114
With an answering love must twine.
That Heaven will bend
And the love descend,
For ever and ever mine!
Fades the fair light from the waters,—
Cold shimmer the stars above,—
The desolate night-wind shudders
Through the dusk of the gloomy grove.
The vision is gone,—
I sit alone
With darkness and silence and love.
Cold shimmer the stars above,—
The desolate night-wind shudders
Through the dusk of the gloomy grove.
The vision is gone,—
I sit alone
With darkness and silence and love.
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