 | Poems of home and country |  |
THE MORNING COMETH.
[_]
These verses were written in 1862, under the never-faltering conviction that out of battle-struggle would come a crowning peace which would bind in closer bonds than ever a reconciled and prosperous people.
It IS COMING, it is coming!
As comes the blessed rain,
When the burning heat and dryness
Have scorched the waving grain.
We hail the early promise,—
'T is not in vain to wait;
If the help serves God's great purpose,
It never comes too late.
As comes the blessed rain,
When the burning heat and dryness
Have scorched the waving grain.
159
'T is not in vain to wait;
If the help serves God's great purpose,
It never comes too late.
It IS COMING, it is coming,
As comes the blessed dew
On the weary, fainting flowers
When the noon-tide heat is through;
It comes in silent sweetness,
To comfort and to bless,—
We never hear its coming,
But it blesses none the less.
As comes the blessed dew
On the weary, fainting flowers
When the noon-tide heat is through;
It comes in silent sweetness,
To comfort and to bless,—
We never hear its coming,
But it blesses none the less.
It IS COMING, it is coming!
As the giant, rested, wakes,
As o'er the distant hill-tops
The morning redness breaks.
While the soldier on his picket,
His solemn vigil keeps,
The light already glimmers
On the highest rugged steeps.
As the giant, rested, wakes,
As o'er the distant hill-tops
The morning redness breaks.
While the soldier on his picket,
His solemn vigil keeps,
The light already glimmers
On the highest rugged steeps.
It IS COMING, yes, 't is coming!
But, O prophet, poet, when?
We have lavished forth like water,
Our treasure and our men.
We watch the cloudy pillar
That guides our devious way,
And, blinded in the darkness,
God bids our faith delay.
But, O prophet, poet, when?
We have lavished forth like water,
Our treasure and our men.
We watch the cloudy pillar
That guides our devious way,
And, blinded in the darkness,
God bids our faith delay.
160
It IS COMING, it is coming!
Love can calm the maddened brain,
And the palm-tree, and the pine-tree,
Interlace their boughs again;
The corn and cotton ripen
For the loyal and the brave,
And free men till the acres
Of a land without a slave.
Love can calm the maddened brain,
And the palm-tree, and the pine-tree,
Interlace their boughs again;
The corn and cotton ripen
For the loyal and the brave,
And free men till the acres
Of a land without a slave.
It IS COMING, it is coming,
Peace o'er all the land shall rest,
With a glory and a beauty
Like evening in the west;
The noon-tide brightness lingers,
But God can give it glow;
The forest sleeps in acorns,
But God can make it grow.
Peace o'er all the land shall rest,
With a glory and a beauty
Like evening in the west;
The noon-tide brightness lingers,
But God can give it glow;
The forest sleeps in acorns,
But God can make it grow.
| Poems of home and country | |