A moment in the British camp A moment-and away Back to the pathless forest, Before the peep of day. Grave men there are by broad Santee, With smiles like those of summer, For them we wear these trusty arms, THE ARCTIC LOVER. GONE is the long, long winter night; Look, my beloved one! How glorious, through his depths of light, Rolls the majestic sun! The willows, waked from winter's death, Give out a fragrance like thy breath The summer is begun! Ay, 'tis the long bright summer day: The loosened ice-ridge breaks away The smitten waters flash. Seaward the glittering mountain rides, While, down its green translucent sides, The foamy torrents dash. See, love, my boat is moored for thee, By ocean's weedy floor The petrel does not skim the sea More swiftly than my oar. We'll go, where, on the rocky isles, Or, bide thou where the poppy blows, Seek and defy the bear. Fierce though he be, and huge of frame, This arm his savage strength shall tame, And drag him from his lair. When crimson sky and flamy cloud And the dead valleys wear a shroud I'll build of ice thy winter home, With glistening walls and glassy dome, And spread with skins the floor. The white fox by thy couch shall play; And, from the frozen skies, The meteors of a mimic day Shall flash upon thine eyes. And I-for such thy vow-meanwhile Shall hear thy voice and see thy smile, Till that long midnight flies. THE JOURNEY OF LIFE. BENEATH the waning moon I walk at night, And pitfalls lurk in shade along the ground, And broken gleams of brightness, here and there, Glance through, and leave unwarmed the death-like air. The trampled earth returns a sound of fear— And I, with faltering footsteps, journey on, With warmth, and certainty, and boundless light. |