| |
| EVE o’er our path is stealing fast; | |
| Yon quivering splendors are the last | |
| The sun will fling, to tremble o’er | |
| The waves that kiss the opposing shore; | |
| His latest glories fringe the height | 5 |
| Behind us, with their golden light. | |
| |
| The mountain’s mirrored outline fades | |
| Amid the fast-extending shades; | |
| Its shaggy bulk, in sterner pride, | |
| Towers, as the gloom steals o’er the tide; | 10 |
| For the great stream a bulwark meet | |
| That leaves its rock-encumbered feet. | |
| |
| River and mountain! though to song | |
| Not yet, perchance, your names belong; | |
| Those who have loved your evening hues | 15 |
| Will ask not the recording Muse | |
| What antique tales she can relate, | |
| Your banks and steeps to consecrate. | |
| |
| Yet, should the stranger ask what lore | |
| Of bygone days this winding shore, | 20 |
| Yon cliffs and fir-clad steeps, could tell, | |
| If vocal made by Fancy’s spell,— | |
| The varying legend might rehearse | |
| Fit themes for high, romantic verse. | |
| |
| O’er yon rough heights and moss-clad sod | 25 |
| Oft hath the stalworth warrior trod; | |
| Or peered, with hunter’s gaze, to mark | |
| The progress of the glancing bark. | |
| Spoils, strangely won on distant waves, | |
| Have lurked in yon obstructed caves. | 30 |
| |
| When the great strife for Freedom rose, | |
| Here scouted oft her friends and foes | |
| Alternate, through the changeful war, | |
| And beacon-fires flashed bright and far; | |
| And here, when Freedom’s strife was won, | 35 |
| Fell, in sad feud, her favored son,— | |
| |
| Her son, the second of the band, | |
| The Romans of the rescued land. | |
| Where round yon capes the banks ascend, | |
| Long shall the pilgrim’s footsteps bend; | 40 |
| There mirthful hearts shall pause to sigh, | |
| There tears shall dim the patriot’s eye. | |
| |
| There last he stood. Before his sight | |
| Flowed the fair river, free and bright; | |
| The rising mart, and isles, and bay, | 45 |
| Before him in their glory lay,— | |
| Scenes of his love and of his fame,— | |
| The instant ere the death-shot came. | |
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