We lift a song to you across the day
Which bears through travailing the seed you spread
In terror's morning, flung with fingers red
In blood of tyrants, who debarred the way
To Freedom's dawning. Hearken to the lay
Chanted by dusky millions, soft and mellow-keyed,
In minor measure, Martyr of the Freed,
A song of memory across the day.

Truth cannot perish though the earth erase
The royal signals, leaving not a trace,
And time still burgeoneth the fertile seed,
Though he is crucified who wrought the deed:

AN EPISODE OF THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR .

The fight is o'er, the day is done,
And thro' the clouds o'erhead
The fingers of the setting sun
Are pointing down blood-red, —
Beneath, on the white battlefield,
Lie strewn the drifts of dead.

No breath, no stir; but everywhere
The cold Frost crawleth slow,
And Frank and Teuton side by side
Lie stiffening in the snow, —
While piteously each marble face
Cleams in the ruby glow.

No sound; but yonder midst the dead
There stands one steed snow-white,
And clinging to its chilly mane,

A BAGPIPE MELODY .

 To the wedding of Shon Maclean,
  Twenty Pipers together
 Came in the wind and the rain
  Playing across the heather;
 Backward their ribbons flew,
 Blast upon blast they blew,
 Each clad in tartan new,
  Bonnet, and blackcock feather:
 And every Piper was fou,
  Twenty Pipers together! …

He's but a Sassenach blind and vain
Who never heard of Shon Maclean—
The Duke's own Piper, called ‘Shon the Fair,’
From his freckled skin and his fiery hair.

To Harriett .

Here at the Half-way House of Life I linger,
Worn with the way, a weary-hearted Singer,
Resting a little space;
And lo! the good God sends me, as a token
Of peace and blessing (else my heart were broken),
The sunbeam of thy face.

My fear falls from me like a garment; slowly
New strength returns upon me, calm and holy;
I kneel, and I atone...
Thy hand is clasped in mine — we lean together. .
Henceforward, through the sad or shining weather,
I shall not walk alone.

Früh: Licht dämmert wie Nebel,
Mittags brät mich die Sonne,
Abends starr ich ins Feuer,
See brandet die Nacht lang.

Ich lausche dem Wasser,
Wie es vom Felsen fällt,
Ich lausche dem Laub,
Wie es den Baum berauscht.

Primeln sind da,
Veilchen sind da,
Ehrenpreis ist da,
Nur du bist nicht da.

With but one life full certified,
And that of every gleam denied
My portion,
Close to the unrelenting sod,
E'en as my fathers dumbly trod,
I've slumbered;
But now a surging, wild unrest
Uproots the poppies from my breast,
My soul awake, erect! anew!
I stand and face the star-swept blue,
And swear to make my dreams come true!

A rush of lightning reddened
The dense, black, roaring rain;
The night leaped into daylight
Then back to night again.

And like one hurt in battle
When blows fall hot and blind,
The great oak trembled, tottered,
And leaned against the wind.

Then, with a sudden thunder,
Its cloudy head lay low—
Its thousand years were scattered
To nothing, at one blow.

Peace on a thousand hills and dales,
Peace in the hearts of men
While kindliness reclaims the soil
Where bitterness has been.

The night of strife is drifting past,
The storm of shell has ceased,
Disrupted is the cordon fell,
Sweet charity released.

Forth from the shadow, swift we come
Wrought in the flame together,
All men as one beneath the sun
In brotherhood forever.

They are embosomed in the sod,
In still and tranquil leisure,
Their lives they've cast like trifles down,
To serve their country's pleasure.

Nor bugle call, nor mother's voice,
Nor moody mob's unreason,
Shall break their solace and repose
Through swiftly changing season.

O graves of men who lived and died
Afar from life's high pleasures,
Fold them in tenderly and warm
With manifold fond measures.

O Faces! fade upon the wall, and leave
This only, for the watcher to implore.
Dim with the peace that starry twilights weave,
It riseth, and the storm is hush'd and o'er.
Tremblin, I feed my feeble lamp once more,
Tho' all be placid as a summer eye,
See there it moves where weary waters grieve, —
O mariners! look yonder and adore!
Spirit, grow brighter on my nights and days;
Shine out of heaven; my guide and comfort be:
Pilot the wanderers through the ocean ways;
Keep the stars steadfast, and the waters free: