Oh! harvest years, foretold so long!
Through seas of blood, through years of wrong,
A people patient brave and strong,
In camp and field, and battle clang,
'Mid cannon's roar and trumpet's peal,
And shock of war, and clash of steel,
For you each steadfast blade out-sprang!
In you each loyal heart kept faith
As strong as life, as stern as death;
Though human lives like summer grain
Were sown on every battle-plain;
Blood of our bravest and our best,
The red, red wine of life was pressed,
And lost like summer rain.
In dust and smoke of carnage whirled,
Before those dying eyes still swam
Those coming years so grand and calm,
The golden Autumns of the world!
Through frost and snow and wintry rains,
Speed, silent hours!—the Nation waits,
While at her feet the slave in chains,
Kneels, listening for the coming fates;
And round him droops in soil and dust,
The bright flag of her stripes and stars:
Speed, Autumn hours!—we wait in trust
No tale of traitor lips can dim,
Till Liberty's white hand unbars
The broad gates of the glad New Year,
Unfurls our banner free and clear,
And ushers Peace and Freedom in!
[Footnote: President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation
took effect on the first day of the New Year, 1863.]
IN WAR TIME.
Into the west the day goes down,
Smiling and fading into the night,
Is it a cross, or is it a crown
I have worn through all these hours of light!
Bending over my milk-white curds,
In my dairy under the beech,
Still the thought of my heart took words,
And murmured itself in musical speech.
And all my pans of golden cream,
Set in a silver shining row,
Swam in my eyes like the shimmer and sheen
Of arms and banners, and martial show.
The bee in his gold laced uniform,
Drilled the ranks of clover blooms,
And carried my very heart by storm,
Mocking the roll of the distant drums.
But something choked my singing down,
Deeper than any song expressed.—
Is it a cross, or is it a crown
On my brow invisibly pressed!
Out of the east the star-watch shines,
Lighting their camp-fires in the gray;
I count their white tents' lengthening lines,
And think of those who are far away.