Gather, then, each flower that grows, Bear a lily in thy hand; Gates of brass cannot withstand For a smile of God thou art THE BELFRY OF BRUGES. IN the market-place of Bruges stands the belfry old and brown; Thrice consumed and thrice rebuilded, still it watches o'er the town. As the summer morn was breaking, on that lofty tower 1 stood, And the world threw off the darkness, like the weeds of widowhood. Thick with towns and hamlets studded, and with streams and vapours gray, Like a shield embossed with silver, round and vast the landscape lay. At my feet the city slumbered. From its chimneys, here and there, Wreaths of snow-white smoke, ascending, vanished, ghostlike, into air. Not a sound rose from the city at that early morning hour, But I heard a heart of iron beating in the ancient tower. From their nests beneath the rafters sang the swallows wild and high; And the world, beneath me sleeping, seemed more distant than the sky Then, most musical and solemn, bringing back the olden times, With their strange unearthly changes, rang the melancholy chimes. Like the psalms from some old cloister, when the nuns sing in the choir; And the great bell tolled among them, like the chanting of a friar. Visions of the day departed, shadowy phantoms filled my brain; Lombard and Venetian merchants, with deep-laden argosies. ease. I beheld proud Maximilian, kneeling humbly on the ground; I beheld the gentle Mary, hunting with her hawk and hound, And her lighted bridal-chamber, where a duke slept with the queen, And the armed guard around them, and the sword unsheathed between. I beheld the Flemish weavers, with Namur and Juliers bold, Marching homeward from the bloody battle of the Spurs of Gold; Saw the fight at Minnewater, saw the White Hoods moving west, Saw great Artevelde victorious scale the Golden Dragon's nest. And again the whiskered Spaniard all the land with terror smote; And again the loud alarum sounded from the tocsin's throat: Till the bell of Ghent responded, o'er lagoon and dyke of sand, "I am Roland! I am Roland! there is victory in the land!" Then the sound of drums aroused me. The awakened city's roar Chased the phantoms I had summoned back into their graves once more. Hours had passed away like minutes; and, before I was aware, Lo! the shadow of the Belfry crossed the sun-illumined square A GLEAM OF SUNSHINE. THIS is the place. Stand still, my steed. And summon from the shadowy Past The Past and Present here unite Here runs the highway to the town; Through which I walked to church with thee The shadow of the linden-trees A shadow, thou didst pass. Thy dress was like the lilies, And thy heart as pure as they; I saw the branches of the trees "Sleep, sleep to-day, tormenting cares, Of earth and folly born!" Solemnly sang the village choir On that sweet Sabbath morn Through the closed blinds the golden sun Poured in a dusty beam, Like the celestial ladder seen By Jacob in his dream. And ever and anon the wind, Sweet-scented with the hay, Turned o'er the hymn-book's fluttering leaves Long was the good man's sermon, Yet it seemed not so to me; 2N For he spake of Ruth the beautiful, Long was the prayer he uttered, But now, alas! the place seems changed: Thou art no longer here: Part of the sunshine of the scene Though thoughts, deep-rooted in my heart Like pine-trees dark and high, Subdue the light of noon, and breathe A low and ceaseless sigh, This memory brightens o'er the past, Behind some cloud that near us hangs, THE ARSENAL AT SPRINGFIELD THIS is the Arsenal. From floor to ceiling, Ah! what a sound will rise, how wild and dreary, Will mingle with their awful symphonies! I hear even now the infinite fierce chorus, On helm and harness rings the Saxon hammer, O'er distant deserts sounds the Tartar gong. I heard the Florentine, who from his palace And Aztec priests upon their teocallis The wail of famine in beleaguered towns; The bursting shell, the gateway wrenched asunder, Is it, O man, with such discordant noises, Thou drownest Nature's sweet and kindly voices, Were half the power that fills the world with terror, Were half the wealth bestowed on camps and courts, Given to redeem the human mind from error, The warrior's name would be a name abhorrèd! Down the dark future, through long generations, I hear once more the voice of Christ say, "Peace!" Peace! and no longer from its brazen portals The blast of War's great organ shakes the skies! The holy melodies of love arise. NUREMBERG. IN the valley of the Pegnitz, where across broad meadow lands Rise the blue Franconian mountains, Nuremberg the ancient stands. Quaint old town of toil and traffic, quaint old town of art and song, Memories haunt thy pointed gables, like the rooks that round them throng |