That tear'st the bowels of thy mangled mate, From thee be born, who o'er thy country hangs The scourge of Heaven. What terrors round him wait! Amazement in his van, with Flight combined, And Sorrow's faded form, and Solitude behind. "Mighty victor, mighty lord! Low on his funeral couch he lies, Thy son is gone. He rests among the dead. Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows, In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes; Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm; "Fill high the sparkling bowl, The rich repast prepare; Reft of a crown, he yet may share the feast: Fell Thirst and Famine scowl A baleful smile upon their baffled guest. Heard ye the din of battle bray, Lance to lance, and horse to horse? Long years of havoc urge their destined course, And through the kindred squadrons mow their way. Ye towers of Julius, London's lasting shame, With many a foul and midnight murder fed, Revere his consort's faith, his father's fame, And spare the meek usurper's holy head. Above, below, the rose of snow, Twined with her blushing foe, we spread: The bristled Boar in infant-gore Wallows beneath the thorny shade. Now, brothers, bending o'er the accursed loom, Stamp we our vengeance deep, and ratify his doom. "Edward, lo! to sudden fate (Weave we the woof. The thread is spun.) Stay, O stay! nor thus forlorn Leave me unblessed, unpitied, here to mourn: But, O! what solemn scenes on Snowdon's height Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my soul! "Girt with many a baron bold Sublime their starry fronts they rear; In the midst a form divine, Her eye proclaims her of the Briton-line; What strings symphonious tremble in the air! Bright Rapture calls, and, soaring as she sings, "The verse adorn again Fierce War and faithful Love, And Truth severe, by fairy fiction drest. In buskined measures move Pale Grief, and Pleasing Pain, With Horror, tyrant of the throbbing breast. A voice, as of the cherub choir, Gales from blooming Eden bear; And distant warblings lessen on my ear, That lost in long futurity expire. Fond impious man, think'st thou yon sanguine cloud, Raised by thy breath, has quenched the orb of day? To-morrow he repairs the golden flood, And warms the nations with redoubled ray. Enough for me; with joy I see The different doom our fates assign. Be thine despair, and sceptered care; To triumph and to die, are mine." He spoke, and headlong from the mountain's height Deep in the roaring tide he plunged to endless night. EVANGELINE: A TALE OF ACADIE. BY HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. [HENRY WADSworth LongfeLLOW: An American poet; born at Portland, Me., February 27, 1807. He graduated from Bowdoin College at eighteen, having Nathaniel Hawthorne and Franklin Pierce as classmates. Appointed shortly after to the professorship of modern languages there, he spent two years in European travel to fit himself before assuming it. In 1836 he became professor of modern languages and literature at Harvard, and held the chair for eighteen years. He died at his home in Cambridge, Mass., March 24, 1882. His chief volumes of poetry are: "Voices of the Night" (1839), "Ballads," "Spanish Student," "Evangeline," "The Golden Legend," "The Song of Hiawatha,” "The Courtship of Miles Standish," "Tales of a Wayside Inn." He also wrote in prose: "Outre-Mer," and the novels " Hyperion" and "Kavanagh."] THIS is the forest primeval. hemlocks, The murmuring pines and the Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms. This is the forest primeval; but where are the hearts that ocean. Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful village of Grand-Pré. Ye who believe in affection that hopes, and endures, and is Ye who believe in the beauty and strength of woman's devotion, In the Acadian land, on the shores of the basin of Minas, Opened, and welcomed the sea to wander at will o'er the meadows. West and south there were fields of flax, and orchards and cornfields Spreading afar and unfenced o'er the plain; and away to the north ward Blomidon rose, and the forest old, and aloft on the mountains Sea fogs pitched their tents, and mists from the mighty Atlantic Solemnly down the street came the parish priest, and the children Down to his rest, and twilight prevailed. Anon from the belfry Somewhat apart from the village, and nearer the basin of Minas, Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen summers. Black were her eyes as the berry that grows on the thorn by the wayside, Black, yet how softly they gleamed beneath the brown shade of her tresses! Sweet was her breath as the breath of the kine that feed in the meadows, When in the harvest heat she bore to the reapers at noontide Flagons of home-brewed ale, ah! fair in sooth was the maiden. Wearing her Norman cap, and her kirtle of blue, and the earrings, Shone on her face and encircled her form, when, after confession, Homeward serenely she walked with God's benediction upon her. When she had passed, it seemed like the ceasing of exquisite music. Firmly built with rafters of oak, the house of the farmer Stood on the side of a hill commanding the sea; and a shady Sycamore grew by the door, with a woodbine wreathing around it. Rudely carved was the porch, with seats beneath; and a footpath Led through an orchard wide, and disappeared in the meadow. Under the sycamore tree were hives overhung by a penthouse, Such as the traveler sees in regions remote by the roadside, Built o'er a box for the poor, or the blessed image of Mary. Farther down, on the slope of the hill, was the well with its mossgrown Bucket, fastened with iron, and near it a trough for the horses. Shielding the house from storms, on the north, were the barns and the farmyard, There stood the broad-wheeled wains and the antique plows and the harrows; There were the folds for the sheep; and there, in his feathered seraglio, Strutted the lordly turkey, and crowed the cock, with the selfsame Thus, at peace with God and the world, the farmer of Grand-Pré Lived on his sunny farm, and Evangeline governed his household. Many a youth, as he knelt in the church and opened his missal, Fixed his eyes upon her as the saint of his deepest devotion; Happy was he who might touch her hand or the hem of her garment! |