5 Land tolerating all-accepting all-not for the good alone-all good for thee; Land in the realms of God to be a realm unto thyself; Under the rule of God to be a rule unto thyself. (Lo! where arise three peerless stars, To be thy natal stars, my country-Ensemble-Evolution— Freedom, Set in the sky of Law.) Land of unprecedented faith-God's faith! Thy soil, thy very subsoil, all upheav'd; The general inner earth, so long, so sedulously draped over, now and hence for what it is, boldly laid bare, Open'd by thee to heaven's light, for benefit or bale. Not for success alone; Not to fair-sail unintermitted always; 90 The storm shall dash thy face-the murk of war, and worse than war, shall cover thee all over; (Wert capable of war-its tug and trials? Be capable of peace, its trials; For the tug and mortal strain of nations come at last in peace— not war ;) In many a smiling mask death shall approach, beguiling theethou in disease shalt swelter; The livid cancer spread its hideous claws, clinging upon thy breasts, seeking to strike thee deep within; Consumption of the worst-moral consumption-shall rouge thy face with hectic : But thou shalt face thy fortunes, thy diseases, and surmount them all, Whatever they are to-day, and whatever through time they may be, 100 They each and all shall lift, and pass away, and cease from thee; While thou, Time's spirals rounding-out of thyself, thyself still extricating, fusing, Equable, natural, mystical Union thou-(the mortal with immortal blent,) Shalt soar The Soul-its destinies. The Soul, its destinies-the real real, (Purport of all these apparitions of the real ;) In thee, America, the Soul, its destinies; Thou globe of globes! thou wonder nebulous! By many a throe of heat and cold convuls'd-(by these thysel solidifying ;) Thou mental, moral orb! thou New, indeed new, Spiritua World! The Present holds thee not-for such vast growth as thine-for such unparallel'd flight as thine, The Future only holds thee, and can hold thee. THE MYSTIC TRUMPETER. First published in "As a Strong Bird," etc., 1872. I HARK! Some wild trumpeter--some strange musician, I hear thee, trumpeter-listening, alert, I catch thy notes, 2 Come nearer, bodiless one-haply, in thee resounds Was fill'd with aspirations high-unform'd ideals, Waves, oceans musical, chaotically surging, That now, ecstatic ghost, close to me bending, thy cornet echo ing, pealing, Gives out to no one's ears but mine-but freely gives to mine, That I may thee translate.. 3 Blow, trumpeter, free and clear-I follow thee, While at thy liquid prelude, glad, serene, ΤΟ The fretting world, the streets, the noisy hours of day, withdraw; A holy calm descends, like dew, upon me, I walk, in cool refreshing night, the walks of Paradise I scent the grass, the moist air, and the roses; Thy song expands my numb'd, imbonded spirit-thou freest, launchest me, Floating and basking upon Heaven's lake. 4 Blow again, trumpeter! and for my sensuous eyes, 20 What charm thy music works!-thou makest pass before me, Ladies and cavaliers long dead-barons are in their castle hallsthe troubadours are singing; Arm'd knights go forth to redress wrongs-some in quest of the Holy Grail: I see the tournament-I see the contestants, encased in heavy armor, seated on stately, champing horses; I hear the shouts-the sounds of blows and smiting steel: I see the Crusaders' tumultuous armies-Hark! how the cymbals clang! Lo! where the monks walk in advance, bearing the cross on high ! 5 Blow again, trumpeter! and for thy theme, 30 Take now the enclosing theme of all-the solvent and the setting; No other theme but love-knitting, enclosing, all-diffusing love. O, how the immortal phantoms crowd around me! I see the vast alembic ever working-I see and know the flames that heat the world; The glow, the blush, the beating hearts of lovers, So blissful happy some-and some so silent, dark, and nigh to death: Love, that is all the earth to lovers-Love, that mocks time and space; Love, that is day and night-Love, that is sun and moon and stars; Love, that is crimson, sumptuous, sick with perfume ; 40 No other words, but words of love-no other thought but Love. 6 Blow again, trumpeter-conjure war's wild alarums. Swift to thy spell, a shuddering hum like distant thunder rolls; Lo! where the arm'd men hasten-Lo! mid the clouds of dust, the glint of bayonets; I see the grime-faced cannoniers-I mark the rosy flash amid the smoke-I hear the cracking of the guns: -Nor war alone-thy fearful music-song, wild player, brings every sight of fear, The deeds of ruthless brigands-rapine, murder-I hear the cries for help ! I see ships foundering at sea-I behold on deck, and below deck, the terrible tableaux. 7 49 O trumpeter! methinks I am myself the instrument thou playest ! Thou melt'st my heart, my brain-thou movest, drawest, changest them, at will: And now thy sullen notes send darkness through me; Thou takest away all cheering light-all hope: I see the enslaved, the overthrown, the hurt, the opprest of the whole earth; I feel the measureless shame and humiliation of my race-it becomes all mine; Mine too the revenges of humanity-the wrongs of ages-baffled feuds and hatreds; Utter defeat upon me weighs-all lost! the foe victorious! (Yet 'mid the ruins Pride colossal stands, unshaken to the last ; Endurance, resolution, to the last.) Now, trumpeter, for thy close, 8 Vouchsafe a higher strain than any yet; Sing to my soul-renew its languishing faith and hope; Rouse up my slow belief-give me some vision of the future; Give me, for once, its prophecy and joy. O glad, exulting, culminating song! A vigor more than earth's is in thy notes! 60 Marches of victory-man disenthrall'd-the conqueror at last! Hymns to the universal God, from universal Man-all joy! A reborn race appears-a perfect World, all joy! Women and Men, in wisdom, innocence and health-all joy! Riotous, laughing bacchanals, fill'd with joy! 71 War, sorrow, suffering gone-The rank earth purged-nothing but joy left! The ocean fill'd with joy-the atmosphere all joy! Joy! Joy! in freedom, worship, love! Joy in the ecstacy of life! O STAR OF FRANCE! 1870-71. First published in "As a Strong Bird," 1872. I O STAR of France ! The brightness of thy hope and strength and fame, Beseems to-day a wreck, driven by the gale-a mastless hulk ; Orb not of France alone-pale symbol of my soul, its dearest hopes, The struggle and the daring-rage divine for liberty, Of aspirations toward the far ideal-enthusiast's dreams of Star panting o'er a land of death-heroic land! Strange, passionate, mocking, frivolous land. ΙΟ Miserable! yet for thy errors, vanities, sins, I will not now rebuke thee; Thy unexampled woes and pangs have quell'd them all, In that amid thy many faults, thou ever aimedest highly, In that thou wouldst not really sell thyself, however great the price, |