Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE MISSISSIPPI, by SARAH JOSEPHA BUELL HALE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE MISSISSIPPI, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Monarch of rivers in the wide domain
Last Line: The hymn of universal brotherhood!
Alternate Author Name(s): Hale, Sara; Hale, Sarah Josepha
Subject(s): Mississippi River; Rivers


MONARCH of Rivers in the wide domain
Where Freedom writes her signature in stars,
And bids her Eagle bear the blazing scroll
To usher in the reign of peace and love,
Thou mighty Mississippi! -- may my song
Swell with thy power, and though an humble rill,
Roll, like thy current, through the sea of Time,
Bearing thy name, as tribute from my soul
Of fervent gratitude and holy praise,
To Him who pour'd thy multitude of waves

Shadow'd beneath those awful piles of stone,
Where Liberty has found a Pisgah height,
O'erlooking all the land she loves to bless,
The jagged rocks and icy towers her guard,
Whose splinter'd summits seize the warring clouds,
And roll them, broken, like a host o'erthrown,
Adown the Mountain's side, scattering their wealth
Of powder'd pearl and liquid diamond drops, --
THERE is thy Source, -- great River of the West!

Slowly, like youthful Titan gathering strength
To war with heaven and win himself a name,
The stream moves onward through the dark ravines,
Rending the roots of over-arching trees.
To form its narrow channel, where the star,
That fain would bathe its beauty in the wave,
Like lover's glance steals, trembling, through the leaves
That veil the waters with a vestal's care; --
And few of human form have ventured there,
Save the swart savage in his bark canoe.

But now it deepens, struggles, rushes on;
Like goaded war-horse, bounding o'er the foe,
It clears the rocks it may not spurn aside,
Leaping, as Curtius leap'd adown the gulf,
And rising, like Antaeus from the fall,
Its course majestic through the Land pursues,
And the broad River o'er the Valley reigns!

It reigns alone. The tributary streams
Are humble vassals, yielding to its sway.
And when the wild Missouri fain would join
A rival in the race -- as Jacob seized
On his red brother's birth-right, even so
The swelling Mississippi grasps that wave,
And, rebaptizing, makes the waters one.

It reigns alone -- and Earth the sceptre feels: --
Her ancient trees are bow'd beneath the wave,
Or, rent like reeds before the whirlwind's swoop,
Toss on the bosom of the madden'd flood,
A floating forest, till the waters, calm'd,
Like slumbering anaconda gorged with prey,
Open a haven to the moving mass,
Or form an island in the dark abyss.

It reigns alone. Old Nile would ne'er bedew
The Lands it blesses with its fertile tide.
Even sacred Ganges, joined with Egypt's flood,
Would shrink beside this wonder of the West!
Ay, gather Europe's royal Rivers all --
The snow-swell'd Neva, with an Empire's weight
On her broad breast, she yet may overwhelm;
Dark Danube, hurrying, as by foe pursued,
Through shaggy forests and from palace walls,
To hide its terrors in a sea of gloom;
The castled Rhine, whose vine-crown'd waters flow,
The fount of fable and the source of song;
The rushing Rhone, in whose cerulean depths
The loving sky seems wedded with the wave;
The yellow Tiber, choked with Roman spoils,
A dying miser shrinking 'neath his gold;
And Seine, where Fashion glasses fairest forms;
And Thames, that bears the riches of the world;
Gather their waters in one ocean mass,
-- Our Mississippi, rolling proudly on,
Would sweep them from its path, or swallow up,
Like Aaron's rod, these streams of fame and song!

And thus the Peoples, from the many Lands,
Where these old streams are household memories,
Mingle beside our River, and are one;
And join to swell the strength of Freedom's tide,
That from the fount of Truth is flowing on,
To sweep Earth's thousand tyrannies away.

How wise -- how wonderful the works of God!
And, hallow'd by his goodness, all are good.
The creeping glow-worm -- the careering sun
Are kindled from the effluence of his light.
The ocean and the acorn-cup are fill'd
By gushings from the fountain of his love.
HE pour'd the Mississippi's torrent forth,
And heaved its tide above the trembling land, --
Grand type how Freedom lifts the Citizen
Above the subject masses of the world --
And mark'd the limits it may never pass.
Trust in His promises, and bless His power,
Ye dwellers on its banks, and be at peace.
And ye, whose way is on this warrior wave,
When the swoln waters heave with ocean's might,
And storms and darkness close the gate of heaven,
And the frail bark, fire-driven, bounds quivering on,
As though it rent the iron shroud of night,
And struggled with the demons of the flood --
Fear nothing! He who shields the folded flower,
When tempests rage, is ever present here.
Lean on "Our Father's" breast in faith and prayer,
And Sleep, -- His arm of love is strong to save.

Great Source of Being, Beauty, Light and Love!
Creator! Lord! the waters worship thee!
Ere thy creative smile had sown the flowers;
Ere the glad hills leap'd upward, or the earth.
With swelling bosom, waited for her child;
Before eternal Love had lit the sun,
Or Time had traced his dial-plate in stars,
The joyful anthem of the waters flow'd; --
And Chaos like a frighten'd felon fled,
While on the Deep the Holy Spirit moved.

And evermore the Deep has worshipp'd God;
And Bards and Prophets tune their mystic lyres,
While listening to the music of the floods.
Oh! could I catch this harmony of sounds,
As borne on dewy wings they float to heaven,
And blend their meaning with my closing strain!
Hark! as a reed-harp thrill'd by whispering winds,
Or Naiad murmurs from a pearl-lipp'd shell,
It comes -- the melody of many waves!
And loud, with Freedom's world-awaking note,
The deep-toned Mississippi leads the choir.
-- The pure sweet Fountains chant of heavenly hope;
The chorus of the Rills is household love;
The Rivers roll their song of social joy;
And Ocean's organ voice is sounding forth
The Hymn of Universal Brotherhood!





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