ON Sumter's rampart, that sweet eve, I heard the vesper bugle play In chorus with the ocean's heave, All in the golden prime of May. On either side, the level lands Swam seaward gray and serpentine; The billows burst in corsair bands Against their shield of rock and pine. Aloof, beyond the sullen bar Crouching, the black armada rides— Afront the vulture ships of war, Brooded the giant Ironsides. The fortress guns scowled from their lair Along the sentry's bristling beat; While on the sultry wave, aglare, Back frowned the gaunt and baffled fleet. Above her, in the glittering day, The white-winged banner's battle stars— Crisping the bosom of the bay, Bold Moultrie stands with all her scars; Amid the island, in repose, The casual breeze at last grew still; And, through the haze of twilight, rose The tower of Secessionville. The patient moon clomb up the sky Forever on the sun god's trail— The saddest, loveliest thing on high, And like Œnone's passion, pale. The signal fires wink through the dark, Aleft and right, as rays may reach Around the red and feverish arc Of muffled batteries on the beach. A hallowed radiance, calm and grave, Gilded the city's storied spires; Where watch the beautiful and brave, Where sleep the Carolinian sires. On Sumter's rampart, that sweet night, Leaning beside the shattered wall, Thy gentle face, so fair and bright, Kept me, dear love, within thy thrall. I turned from wrecks of storm and strife To thee—within some distant home; I felt that all my fate and life Were thine, wherever I must roam. 'A glory has come o'er my days In dreaming noblest dreams of thee; Beyond the rampart, how my gaze Went proudly o'er the Southern sea! Dear love! though dreams may wither here, They are upgathered from the sod; And we shall see them reappear In the long summer time of God! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PARTING AT MORNING by ROBERT BROWNING SATIRES OF CIRCUMSTANCE: 14. OVER THE COFFIN by THOMAS HARDY MOTHER TO SON by JAMES LANGSTON HUGHES A BALLAD OF TREES AND THE MASTER by SIDNEY LANIER AMORETTI: 19 by EDMUND SPENSER AT GIBRALTAR by GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY |