Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TENNESSEE; A CENTENNIAL POEM, 1897, by JOHN TROTWOOD MOORE



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TENNESSEE; A CENTENNIAL POEM, 1897, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sun-shimmer'd fields of dreaming green
Last Line: Love of thee.
Subject(s): Confederate States Of America; Freedom; Military; Soldiers; Tennessee; Confederacy; Liberty


SUN-SHIMMER'D fields of dreaming green,
A sky blue-domed in azure sheen,
And hill on hill dipped deep between.
And with soft sighs the breezes rise
To waft cloud-kisses to the skies.

Nature smiled, and dimpled back
The Middle Basin in her track.
She laughed, and ling'ring on its crest
Her echo rolled from out the west.
She frowned, and 'round her thoughtful brow,
'Rose our bold peaks of liberty.
'Rose, and wedded with the sky—
For Liberty will wed no less
Than this sky-child of loveliness,
With eyes of stars and sunset tress.

And one—King's Mountain peak in name—
Has linked his wedding day to fame—
For scorning Self, and hoyden Mirth,
And flesh-pot Pride, and cringing Earth,
He kissed his bride-queen of the sky
And gave to Independence birth.

God saw the picture, that 'twas good,
And so on heaven's heights He stood
And through the bars of throbbing stars
Sent men whose souls were souls of Mars.

God saw the picture, that 'twas fair,
And so, from out of heaven's air,
Through dreamy haze of nebulous ways—
(Souled in the sweetness of their lays
And crowned in the halo of their blaze)
Sent maids to wed these men of Mars.

And over all, from Morning's loom,
He cast a veil of blue and bloom,
As ancient kings a cloth of gold
Threw o'er the master works of old.

When star weds star, the stars are born,
And after star-birth comes the morn,
The morn of Men and Principle.
And so men came of giant frame—
Live-oaks in the field of Fame—
Monarchs in God's forestry.

And one came as the Hickory, with steel-knit, stubborn form,
The gatherer of strength that's won by wrestling with the storm,
The main-mast of that sturdy ship that first flung to the world
The heaven-reflected glory of the Stars and Stripes unfurled.
He came and smote, and from the throat of guns of Tennessee,
He echoed back the thunder-note of infant Liberty.
And one grew as the rough, Red Oak, from out the deep, rich soil—
The strength of ages garnered in the nobleness of toil—
He stood and died for Liberty, and far across the sea
Tossed back the new world's answer to a new Thermopylæ.
And one was like the Willow in his grace of heart and mind,
And holds the list'ning ear of fame as the harp-string holds the wind.
And one was like the stately Pine, his name an evergreen
Held in the prow-beak of each ship that sails the seas between.
And one came as the Cedar, and reared his lofty crest
To gather 'neath its ample boughs an empire from the west.
And thousands stood as Cypresses, when the axe of Fate was nigh,
And in their moss of tatter'd gray with proud heads in the sky,
Fell in the fadeless forest of Immortality.

O, children of such Deeds as these,
As rivers flow to make the seas,
Great spirits make great destinies.
O, sons of sires, these deeds adorn;
As true as sunlight unto morn
Is deed that lives, to deed unborn.
O, maids of mothers, know ye then,
As purest stream from deepest glen,
Great mothers only rear great men.
Hark, now, from out his leafy throne,
What sings our mock-bird Mendelssohn:

Tennessee, Tennessee,
All our song goes out to thee.

From our eyries where the eagles breed the spirit of the free
To the cataract that catches up the lay of liberty;
From our vestal hills uplifting emerald offerings to the sky,
To the Basin in whose bosom heaven's garnered glories lie.
Singing, singing, singing, as the wind sings to the sea,
Clinging, clinging, clinging, as the vine clings to the tree,
Songs of hope and songs of sadness,
Songs of home and songs of gladness,
Songs of thee.

Tennessee, Tennessee,
All our love goes out to thee.
From our mountains where the marble dreams of beauty yet to be,
To the mighty marching river bearing bounty to the sea;
From our Eastland where the clover blossom mocks the purple morn,
To the West where cotton banners mimic sunset 'mid the corn.
Giving, giving, giving, as the blossom gives the bee,
Living, living, living, as should ever live the free,
Love of truth and love of beauty,
Love of God and love of duty,
Love of thee.





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