Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BAYARD TAYLOR, by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: And where now, bayard, will thy footsteps tend? Last Line: Of his rapt gaze on unfamiliar skies! Subject(s): Taylor, Bayard (1825-1878) | ||||||||
I "AND where now, Bayard, will thy footsteps tend?" My sister asked our guest one winter's day. Smiling he answered in the Friends' sweet way Common to both: "Wherever thou shalt send! What wouldst thou have me see for thee?" She laughed, Her dark eyes dancing in the woodfire's glow; "Loffoden isles, the Kilpis, and the low, Unsetting sun on Finmark's fishingcraft." "All these and more I soon shall see for thee!" He answered cheerily: and he kept his pledge On Lapland snows, the North Cape's windy wedge, And Tromso freezing in its winter sea. He went and came. But no man knows the track Of his last journey, and he comes not back! II He brought us wonders of the new and old; We shared all climes with him. The Arab's tent To him its story-telling secret lent. And, pleased, we listened to the tales he told. His task, beguiled with songs that shall endure, In manly, honest thoroughness he wrought; From humble home-lays to the heights of thought Slowly he climbed, but every step was sure. How, with the generous pride that friendship hath, We, who so loved him, saw at last the crown Of civic honor on his brows pressed down, Rejoiced, and knew not that the gift was death. And now for him, whose praise in deafened ears Two nations speak, we answer but with tears! III O Vale of Chester! trod by him so oft, Green as thy June turf keep his memory. Let Nor wood, nor dell, nor storied stream forget, Nor winds that blow round lonely Cedarcroft; Let the home voices greet him in the far, Strange land that holds him; let the messages Of love pursue him o'er the chartless seas And unmapped vastness of his unknown star! Love's language, heard beyond the loud discourse Of perishable fame, in every sphere Itself interprets; and its utterance here Somewhere in God's unfolding universe Shall reach our traveller, softening the surprise Of his rapt gaze on unfamiliar skies! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BAYARD TAYLOR by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH BAYARD TAYLOR by CHRISTOPHER PEARSE CRANCH IN MEMORIAM: BAYARD TAYLOR (UPON DEATH) by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE IN MEMORIAM: TO BAYARD TAYLOR BEYOND US; A VISION by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE VALENTINE: TO BAYARD TAYLOR by SARA JANE CLARKE LIPPINCOTT ULTIMA THULE: BAYARD TAYLOR by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW BAYARD TAYLOR by MARGARET ELIZABETH MUNSON SANGSTER THE TENT ON THE BEACH: 1 by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER AMY WENTWORTH; FOR WILLIAM BRADFORD by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER AN AUTOGRAPH (1) by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER |
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