Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TWAS YESTERDAY AT EARLY DAWN, by EMILY JANE BRONTE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TWAS YESTERDAY AT EARLY DAWN, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
Alternate Author Name(s): Bell, Ellis
Subject(s): Spring; Winter; Homecoming


'Twas yesterday at early dawn
āàI watched the falling snow;
A drearier scene on winter morn
āàWas never stretched below.

I could not see the mountains round,
āàBut I knew by the wind's wild roar,
How every drift in their glens profound
āàWas deepening ever more.

And then I thought of Ula's bowers,
āàBeyond the southern sea,
Her tropic prairies bright with flowers,
āàAnd rivers wandering free.

I thought of many a happy day
āàSpent in her Eden Isle
With my dear comrades young and gay,
All scattered now so far away,
āàBut not forgot the while!

Who, that has breathed that heavenly air,
āàTo northern climes would come,
To Gondal's mists and moorlands drear,
āàAnd sleet and frozen gloom?

Spring brings the swallow and the lark,
āàBut what will winter bring?
Its twilight hours and evenings dark
āàTo match the gift of spring?

No, look with me o'er that swollen main;
āàIf my spirit's eye can see,
There are brave ships floating back again
That no calm southern port can chain
āàFrom Gondal's stormy sea.

Oh! how the hearts of voyagers beat
āàTo feel the frost-wind blow!
What follows in Ula's garden sweet
āàIs worth one flake of snow.

The blast which almost rends their sail
āàIs welcome as a friend;
It brings them home, that thundering gale,
āàHome to their journey's end;

Home to our souls whose wearying sighs
āàLament their absence drear;
And oh, how bright even winter skies
āàWould shine if they were here!






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