 | A sheaf of verse bound for the fair |  |
SUNNYSIDE.
December 1, 1859.
The dear, quaint cottage, as we pass,
No clambering rose or locusts hide;
While dead leaves fleck the matted grass,
And shadow rests on Sunnyside:
No clambering rose or locusts hide;
While dead leaves fleck the matted grass,
And shadow rests on Sunnyside:
Not by the flying cloud-rack cast,
Nor by the summer foliage bred,
The life-long shadow which the Past
Lets fall where cherished joys have fled:
Nor by the summer foliage bred,
The life-long shadow which the Past
Lets fall where cherished joys have fled:
For he whose fancy wove a spell
As lasting as the scene is fair,
That makes the mountain, stream, and dell
His own dream-life forever share;
As lasting as the scene is fair,
That makes the mountain, stream, and dell
His own dream-life forever share;
47
He who with England's household grace,
And with the brave romance of Spain,
Tradition's lore and Nature's face,
Imbued his visionary brain;
And with the brave romance of Spain,
Tradition's lore and Nature's face,
Imbued his visionary brain;
Mused in Granada's old arcade
As gushed the Moorish fount at noon,
With the last minstrel thoughtful strayed
To ruined shrines beneath the moon;
As gushed the Moorish fount at noon,
With the last minstrel thoughtful strayed
To ruined shrines beneath the moon;
And breathed the tenderness and wit
Thus garnered, in expression pure,
As now his thoughts with humor flit,
And now to pathos wisely lure;
Thus garnered, in expression pure,
As now his thoughts with humor flit,
And now to pathos wisely lure;
Who traced, with sympathetic hand,
Our peerless chieftain's high career;
His life, that gladdened all the land,
And blest a home—is ended here.
Our peerless chieftain's high career;
His life, that gladdened all the land,
And blest a home—is ended here.
What pensive charms of Nature brood
O'er the familiar scene to-day,
As if, with smile and tear, she wooed
Our hearts a mutual rite to pay!
O'er the familiar scene to-day,
As if, with smile and tear, she wooed
Our hearts a mutual rite to pay!
The river that he loved so well,
Like a full heart is awed to calm,
The winter air that wails his knell
Is fragrant with autumnal balm.
Like a full heart is awed to calm,
The winter air that wails his knell
Is fragrant with autumnal balm.
A veil of mist hangs soft and low
Above the Catskill's wooded range,
While sunbeams on the slope below
Their shroud to robes of glory change.
Above the Catskill's wooded range,
While sunbeams on the slope below
Their shroud to robes of glory change.
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How to the mourner's patient sight
Glide the tall sails along the shore,
Like a procession clad in white
Down a vast temple's crystal floor.
Glide the tall sails along the shore,
Like a procession clad in white
Down a vast temple's crystal floor.
So light the haze, its floating shades,
Like tears through which we dimly see,
With incense crown the Palisades,
With purple wreathe the Tappan Zee.
Like tears through which we dimly see,
With incense crown the Palisades,
With purple wreathe the Tappan Zee.
And ne'er did more serene repose
Of cloud and sunshine, brook and brae,
Round Sleepy Hollow fondly close,
Than on its lover's burial day.
Of cloud and sunshine, brook and brae,
Round Sleepy Hollow fondly close,
Than on its lover's burial day.
| A sheaf of verse bound for the fair | |