Thomas Cole's poetry the collected poems of America's foremost painter of the Hudson River School reflecting his feelings for nature and the romantic spirit of the Nineteenth Century |
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 | Thomas Cole's poetry |  |
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75.
Just before Sunrise
Rise from thy slumbers thou of counted years;
Nor let the precious light fall on thy couch
Like dews of heaven on a withered tree
With profitless and unrefreshful waste.
Rise! For the sun hath breathed upon the sky
And the cold ether through its orient depths
Melts like dusk metal in the forge's flame
Rise! For the sun has full nigh climbed the wall
Of horizontal amethyst and swift
Unbars the gates of day. Rise ere he rises!
'Tis the choice moment of unnumbered hours.
Cloudless the ether—deeper and more deep
It grows—The piercing eye amazed is lost
And life itself will not suffice to sound
Depths that are infinite. See the wan moon
Above the western steeps like a faint maiden
Sinks 'mid her purple curtains to repose.
And yonder mountains speechless as with awe
Upturn their holy faces to the sky.
Nor let the precious light fall on thy couch
Like dews of heaven on a withered tree
With profitless and unrefreshful waste.
Rise! For the sun hath breathed upon the sky
And the cold ether through its orient depths
Melts like dusk metal in the forge's flame
Rise! For the sun has full nigh climbed the wall
Of horizontal amethyst and swift
Unbars the gates of day. Rise ere he rises!
'Tis the choice moment of unnumbered hours.
Cloudless the ether—deeper and more deep
It grows—The piercing eye amazed is lost
And life itself will not suffice to sound
Depths that are infinite. See the wan moon
Above the western steeps like a faint maiden
Sinks 'mid her purple curtains to repose.
And yonder mountains speechless as with awe
Upturn their holy faces to the sky.
Be still! For in this sacred solemn deep
Of silence all things mute do pray.
Amen!!
Of silence all things mute do pray.
Amen!!
October 27, 1847
| Thomas Cole's poetry | |