Where ancient forests round us spread,
  Where bends the cataract’s ocean-fall,
On the lone mountain’s silent head,
  There are thy temples, God of all!

Beneath the dark-blue, midnight arch,
  Whence myriad suns pour down their rays,
Where...

Rocked in the cradle of the deep
I lay me down in peace to sleep;
Secure I rest upon the wave,
For thou, O Lord! hast power to save.
I know thou wilt not slight my call,
For Thou dost mark the sparrow’s fall;
And calm and peaceful shall I sleep,...

I said to Sorrow’s awful storm,
  That beat against my breast,
Rage on—thou may’st destroy this form,
  And lay it low at rest;
But still the spirit that now brooks
  Thy tempest, raging high,
Undaunted on its fury looks
  With steadfast...

Alone i walked the ocean strand;
A pearly shell was in my hand:
I stooped and wrote upon the sand
  My name—the year—the day.
As onward from the spot I passed,
One lingering look behind I cast;
A wave came rolling high and fast,
  And...

        my brigantine!
Just in thy mould and beauteous in thy form,
Gentle in roll and buoyant on the surge,
Light as the sea-fowl rocking in the storm,
In breeze and gale thy onward course we urge,
        My water-queen!

        Lady of mine!...

Star of the North! though night winds drift
  The fleecy drapery of the sky
Between thy lamp and me, I lift,
  Yea, lift with hope, my sleepless eye
To the blue heights wherein thou dwellest,
And of a land of freedom tellest.

Star of the North!...

Stand! the ground’s your own, my braves!
Will ye give it up to slaves?
Will ye look for greener graves?
  Hope ye mercy still?
What ’s the mercy despots feel?
Hear it in that battle-peal!
Read it on yon bristling steel!
  Ask it,—ye who...

A weapon that comes down as still
  As snowflakes fall upon the sod;
But executes a freeman’s will,
  As lightning does the will of God.

His falchion flashed along the Nile;
  His hosts he led through Alpine snows;
O’er Moscow’s towers, that shook the while,
  His eagle flag unrolled,—and froze.

Here sleeps he now, alone;—not one
  Of all the kings whose crowns he gave,
Nor sire,...

The pilgrim FATHERS,—where are they?
  The waves that brought them o’er
Still roll in the bay, and throw their spray
  As they break along the shore;
Still roll in the bay, as they rolled that day
  When the Mayflower moored below,
When the sea...