 | The Burden of the Bell and Other Lyrics |  |
178
THE LAST SONG OF WINTER.
I am singing my last wild song!
A song that soundeth from hill and plain,
With the howling wind, and the lashing rain,
And the forest's roar, as the hurricane
Doth sweep its boughs among.
A song that soundeth from hill and plain,
With the howling wind, and the lashing rain,
And the forest's roar, as the hurricane
Doth sweep its boughs among.
I am singing my last wild song!
For my crown of frost is melting away,
Drop by drop; and the icy chains,
Wherewith I fettered my broad domains,
Will yield, I wot, to a warmer sway,
And loose their clasp ere long.
For my crown of frost is melting away,
Drop by drop; and the icy chains,
Wherewith I fettered my broad domains,
Will yield, I wot, to a warmer sway,
And loose their clasp ere long.
I am singing my last wild song!
Louder and louder, ye storm-winds all!
Ere ye 'scape, for a season, my savage thrall,
Ye shall feel my strength;—mad rain, mad rain,
Faster, and faster!—Ho! hurricane,
Thy ruinous blast prolong!
Louder and louder, ye storm-winds all!
Ere ye 'scape, for a season, my savage thrall,
Ye shall feel my strength;—mad rain, mad rain,
Faster, and faster!—Ho! hurricane,
Thy ruinous blast prolong!
179
I am singing my last wild song!
I must quit my throne, but the earth shall see
That I go in the pomp of my royalty,
And mine ancient strength—it shall see at morn,
By the tall trees scathed, and stripped, and torn,
With a conqueror's tread, o'er a realm forlorn,
I have passed with my shouting throng.
I must quit my throne, but the earth shall see
That I go in the pomp of my royalty,
And mine ancient strength—it shall see at morn,
By the tall trees scathed, and stripped, and torn,
With a conqueror's tread, o'er a realm forlorn,
I have passed with my shouting throng.
I am singing my last wild song!
But beware, oh Earth!—if thou bend the knee
To the glory of Summer—revengefully,
With a fiercer might, will I come again,
With a tyrannous hate, to my sunless reign,
And bind thee down, 'neath a heavier chain,
With pitiless grasp and strong.
But beware, oh Earth!—if thou bend the knee
To the glory of Summer—revengefully,
With a fiercer might, will I come again,
With a tyrannous hate, to my sunless reign,
And bind thee down, 'neath a heavier chain,
With pitiless grasp and strong.
I am singing my last wild song!
My last!—Ha! laughest thou? Again,
Ere long, thou shalt list to the same rude strain!
My last!—'twas a merry jest, I trow—
Ocean must shrink, and the great sun grow
Faint in the skies, and the end of all
Sweep to destruction this earthly ball,
Ere I sing my last wild song!
My last!—Ha! laughest thou? Again,
Ere long, thou shalt list to the same rude strain!
My last!—'twas a merry jest, I trow—
Ocean must shrink, and the great sun grow
Faint in the skies, and the end of all
Sweep to destruction this earthly ball,
Ere I sing my last wild song!
| The Burden of the Bell and Other Lyrics | |