ALL night above their rocky bed They saw the stars march slow; The wild Sierra overhead, The desert's death below. The Indian from his lodge of bark, The gray bear from his den, Beyond their camp-fire's wall of dark, Glared on the mountain men. Still upward turned, with anxious strain, Their leader's sleepless eye, Where splinters of the mountain chain Stood black against the sky. The night waned slow: at last, a glow, A gleam of sudden fire, Shot up behind the walls of snow, And tipped each icy spire. "Up, men!" he cried, "yon rocky cone, To-day, please God, we'll pass, And look from Winter's frozen throne On Summer's flowers and grass!" They set their faces to the blast, They trod the eternal snow, And faint, worn, bleeding, hailed at last The promised land below. Behind, they saw the snow-cloud tossed By many an icy horn; Before, warm valleys, wood-embossed, And green with vines and corn. They left the Winter at their backs To flap his baffled wing, And downward, with the cataracts, Leaped to the lap of Spring. Strong leader of that mountain band, Another task remains, To break from Slavery's desert land A path to Freedom's plains. The winds are wild, the way is drear, Yet, flashing through the night, Lo! icy ridge and rocky spear Blaze out in morning light! Rise up, Fremont, and go before; The Hour must have its Man; Put on the hunting-shirt once more, And lead in Freedom's van! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE COCK AND THE FOX, OR THE TALE OF THE NUN'S PRIEST by GEOFFREY CHAUCER DORIS; A PASTORAL by ARTHUR JOSEPH MUNBY SANDY STAR: 5. ONUS PROBANDI by WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE EPITAPH by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON THE HAUNTED HOUSE by MADISON JULIUS CAWEIN TO A DECEMBER GROUSE (HEARD FROM THE SMOKING ROOM) by PATRICK REGINALD CHALMERS THE FAT LADY SPEAKS by GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON TO THE SCHOONER CASCO, DEAR TO R.L.S. by GRACE HAZARD CONKLING |