North and South
FORT ADAMS .
I — 1860.
She leaped up, laughing, all alone
Upon the rampart's sodden stone,
And, laughing, hid behind the mouth
Of the great cannon, facing south.
" Ah! will he find me here? " she said,
Then hushed her laugh and shook her head.
" Nay, will he miss me from the rest,
And, missing, care to come in quest? "
But dancing eyes deride the doubt,
The deprecating lips breathe out,
And waiting, waiting all alone,
Upon the rampart's sodden stone,
She looks across the cannon's mouth,
The silent cannon facing south;
Across the great ships riding down
In stately silence to the town;
Across the sea just where the mist
Melts all the blue to amethyst,
From whence the wind o'er all the sails
Blew soft that day its southern gales.
But white-sailed ships that rode the sea,
Nor dusky cannon's mouth saw she,
With those young eyes whose wistful gaze
Went dreaming thwart the purple haze;
Instead, beyond the white-sailed ships,
Beyond the cannon's dusky lips,
Beyond the sea just where the mist
Melts all the blue to amethyst,
The tall palmettoes darkly rise
Before her dream-enchanted eyes,
And waiting, waiting all alone
Upon the rampart's sodden stone,
In dreams she stands beneath the shade
Of Southern palms, — this little maid,
Whose morning face and tender eyes
Took all their hue from Northern skies.
And standing thus enchanted there,
Within her castle of the air,
The rippling tide, that sinks and swells,
Comes to her ear like wedding bells;
And through her castle's airy halls,
From room to room a low voice calls,
And calling, calling, near, so near,
That half in dream and half in fear.
She turns, and swift her vision flies
Before the vision of her eyes;
For some one scales the rampart mound,
And some one laughs: " Ah, truant, found! "
And face to face she meets him there,
Her fairy castle's lordly heir!
So, North and South, the pine and palm,
United, in that summer calm.
Of idle summer days they stand,
By prosperous gales and breezes fanned.
II. — 1862.
No summer guests with curious gaze
Stroll now beneath the " covered ways, "
And gayly laugh and speculate
Upon the old Fort's useless state.
Where last year's lonely arches rang
With idle voices, girls who sang.
Their airy songs, or sent their call
From sodden stone or rampart wall,
There echoes now the martial tread
Of soldier sentinels instead.
And they who, sailing through the mist,
Came hither for a lover's tryst,
And vowed next year again to stand
Thus face to face, thus hand to hand,
Upon the old Fort's mouldering mound, —
Where find they now a trysting ground?
Upon Manassas' bloody plain
One keeps a tryst with death and pain;
And one, grown old before her years
Of youth have fled, with anguished tears
Wrung from despair, far out of reach
Of love's last touch, of love's last speech,
By Narragansett's rushing tide
Walks desolate, — a widowed bride.
I — 1860.
She leaped up, laughing, all alone
Upon the rampart's sodden stone,
And, laughing, hid behind the mouth
Of the great cannon, facing south.
" Ah! will he find me here? " she said,
Then hushed her laugh and shook her head.
" Nay, will he miss me from the rest,
And, missing, care to come in quest? "
But dancing eyes deride the doubt,
The deprecating lips breathe out,
And waiting, waiting all alone,
Upon the rampart's sodden stone,
She looks across the cannon's mouth,
The silent cannon facing south;
Across the great ships riding down
In stately silence to the town;
Across the sea just where the mist
Melts all the blue to amethyst,
From whence the wind o'er all the sails
Blew soft that day its southern gales.
But white-sailed ships that rode the sea,
Nor dusky cannon's mouth saw she,
With those young eyes whose wistful gaze
Went dreaming thwart the purple haze;
Instead, beyond the white-sailed ships,
Beyond the cannon's dusky lips,
Beyond the sea just where the mist
Melts all the blue to amethyst,
The tall palmettoes darkly rise
Before her dream-enchanted eyes,
And waiting, waiting all alone
Upon the rampart's sodden stone,
In dreams she stands beneath the shade
Of Southern palms, — this little maid,
Whose morning face and tender eyes
Took all their hue from Northern skies.
And standing thus enchanted there,
Within her castle of the air,
The rippling tide, that sinks and swells,
Comes to her ear like wedding bells;
And through her castle's airy halls,
From room to room a low voice calls,
And calling, calling, near, so near,
That half in dream and half in fear.
She turns, and swift her vision flies
Before the vision of her eyes;
For some one scales the rampart mound,
And some one laughs: " Ah, truant, found! "
And face to face she meets him there,
Her fairy castle's lordly heir!
So, North and South, the pine and palm,
United, in that summer calm.
Of idle summer days they stand,
By prosperous gales and breezes fanned.
II. — 1862.
No summer guests with curious gaze
Stroll now beneath the " covered ways, "
And gayly laugh and speculate
Upon the old Fort's useless state.
Where last year's lonely arches rang
With idle voices, girls who sang.
Their airy songs, or sent their call
From sodden stone or rampart wall,
There echoes now the martial tread
Of soldier sentinels instead.
And they who, sailing through the mist,
Came hither for a lover's tryst,
And vowed next year again to stand
Thus face to face, thus hand to hand,
Upon the old Fort's mouldering mound, —
Where find they now a trysting ground?
Upon Manassas' bloody plain
One keeps a tryst with death and pain;
And one, grown old before her years
Of youth have fled, with anguished tears
Wrung from despair, far out of reach
Of love's last touch, of love's last speech,
By Narragansett's rushing tide
Walks desolate, — a widowed bride.
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