James Benjamin Kenyon (1858-1924). Song of the North Wind. Stedman and Hutchinson, eds. 1891. A Library of American Literature: An Anthology in 11 Volumes

Nonfiction > E.C. Stedman & E.M. Hutchinson, eds. > A Library of American Literature > 1861–1889

CONTENTS · VOLUME CONTENTS · INDEX TO AUTHORS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889

Song of the North Wind

By James Benjamin Kenyon (1858–1924)

[Born in Frankfort, Herkimer Co., N. Y., 1858. Died in New York, N. Y., 1924. From In Realms of Gold. 1887.]

HARK to the voice of me!
Hear thou the singing
Of him who has never
Been paid for his song!
This is the choice of me,	5
Still to go ringing
The rhymes that forever
Are surly and strong.

Know’st thou the regions cold
Whence I have hasted?	10
Know’st thou the way I take
Over the earth?
Still stand the legends old—
Ice-kings unwasted—
Fending the frigid lake	15
Where I had birth.

Frost-banded fountains
Snow-fed from far peaks;
Firths of the polar sea
Rigid as stone;	20
Shag-bearded mountains;
Deeps that no star seeks;
Strange lights that solar be—
These I have known.

Men fear the breath of me;	25
Sorrow and anguish,
Famine and fever
Follow my path.
I am the death of thee;
I make thee languish;	30
Swiftly I sever
Love’s ties in my wrath.

Chains cannot hold me,
Gyves cannot bind me,
Bolts cannot lock me,	35
Floods cannot drown!
Fly—and I fold thee;
Hide—and I find thee;
Cry—and I mock thee;
Howling thee down!	40

CONTENTS · VOLUME CONTENTS · INDEX TO AUTHORS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Shakespeare · Bible · Strunk · Anatomy · Nonfiction · Quotations · Reference · Fiction · Poetry