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Written During the Jubilee at Chicago
WHILE thousands throng each crowded mart, | |
| And gaze around in mute surprise, | |
| I turn with an adoring heart | |
| To thee, fair mirror of the skies. | |
| Yet not in silence can I pour | 5 |
| My full heart out, fair Lake, to thee, | |
| So, humbly kneeling on thy shore, | |
| I chant thy praise, my Jubilee. | |
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| The purple clouds are all drawn back | |
| From heaven’s blue vault, that I may trace | 10 |
| Its distant verge,—its shining track | |
| Held to thy heart in close embrace. | |
| The roseate flush that tinged the sky | |
| Has slowly turned to burnished gold, | |
| And every wave that hurries by | 15 |
| Clasps all of sunlight it can hold. | |
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| I saw thee not, Lake Michigan, | |
| When all aglow,—a sheet of flame; | |
| When forth the frenzied people ran | |
| To shriek for help, to call thy name. | 20 |
| Chicago, thine own cherished bride, | |
| Thou mightst not succor, couldst not save; | |
| But fettered lay as flames spread wide | |
| And scooped for her a yawning grave. | |
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| The loss was ours; we mourned with thee | 25 |
| That she should fall,—a nation mourned; | |
| Nor deemed we then we e’er should see | |
| Her hopes restored, her strength returned. | |
| “Forever lost, forever gone!” | |
| Came through thy murmuring wavelets’ swell; | 30 |
| “Forever lost, forever gone!” | |
| We echoed back,—her funeral knell. | |
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| Yet now, so soon, a wondering throng | |
| Crowd to thy shore in hushed surprise, | |
| And there behold (grand theme for song) | 35 |
| Chicago, Phœnix-like, arise. | |
| A world lamented when she fell, | |
| And now, ’neath turret, tower, and dome, | |
| A multitude of voices tell | |
| Her year of Jubilee has come. | 40 |
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| Chicago, City of the Lake, | |
| Bride of this lovely inland sea, | |
| Thy resurrection-glories wake | |
| A dream of what thou yet shalt be. | |
| Undaunted in thy darkest hour, | 45 |
| Thyself hast brought the awakening dawn; | |
| Thy energy has been the power | |
| That led, and still shall lead thee on. | |
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