Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LINES WRITTEN ON THE BIRTH OF THE YEAR 1853, by JANET HAMILTON Poet's Biography First Line: Hail! Infant year, fresh from the womb of time Last Line: This gift be yours, to crown the new-born year. Alternate Author Name(s): Hamilton, Janet Thompson Subject(s): Europe; Holidays; New Year; Time | ||||||||
HAIL! infant year, fresh from the womb of Time, Cradled in clouds, what shapes and shades sublime Attend thy birth, and hover round thy head, Bright glowing hopes, dark signs of doubt and dread, So from her sea-girt ark flies Freedom's dove, Herald of Life, of Liberty, and Love. She beats with flagging wing the murky air, Above an ocean chaos of despair She may not fold her wing, nor rest her foot, No voice may hail herall is deathly mute; Broad Europe's shores are beaconless and dark; Fly to thy sheltering homethine island ark. When waters are assuaged, and earth again Bares her cleansed bosom, then shall not in vain Her soaring wings sweep through refulgent skies Where late the sun of Knowledge might not rise, And Superstition's pall, for ages hung Betwixt his God and man, and impious flung O'er mind and conscience fettered, dark, defiled, Shall fall; the Word, the Truth of God, exiled From hearths and homes, shall circulate unconfined, Bright as the sun, and free as mountain wind. Ye sable millions, thralls of wrong and woe, Who wear the chain, and crouch beneath the blow, Your tears and blood, your stripes and toils, your shame Have found an ear in heavenon earth a name. "The weeping blood in woman's heart" hath gushed In words of power, to million eyes hath rushed The burning tear; alike from princely hall And humble homestead sounds the thrilling call Of Freedom for the slave. Thirst we for gold, Its pleasures, and its powers? Earth shall unfold, Nay, hath unfolded treasures such as seem The wild revealings of an Eastern dream, And struggling, toiling thousands, densely pent In cities, towns, and hamlets, labour-spent, Find in another sphere a golden soil, Nor need to "beg a brother's leave to toil." "He is the freeman whom the Truth makes free; All else are slaves;" and riches, all that be Drawn from the earth, from enterprise, or Art, Are powerless to suffice man's craving heart, Till sated with earth's joys, or pall'd with vice, He heaven-directed seeks the pearl of price. He finds, and binds the jewel on his heart The gift, the grace of God, the better part. Hear my best wish for you, each lov'd compeer, This gift be yours, to crown the new-born year. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ELEVEN EYES: FINAL SECTION by LYN HEJINIAN THE FATALIST: COME OCTOBER by LYN HEJINIAN THE FATALIST: HOME by LYN HEJINIAN THE FATALIST: TIME IS FILLED by LYN HEJINIAN SLOWLY: I FREQUENTLY SLOWLY WISH by LYN HEJINIAN ALL THE DIFFICULT HOURS AND MINUTES by JANE HIRSHFIELD A DAY IS VAST by JANE HIRSHFIELD FROM THIS HEIGHT by TONY HOAGLAND A BALLAD FOUNDED ON A REAL INCIDENT WHICH OCCURED IN HIGH LIFE by JANET HAMILTON |
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