Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, IN THE BATTELL HEMLOCKS, by FREDERICK LEWIS PATTEE



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IN THE BATTELL HEMLOCKS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Deep in the northern lands
Last Line: Hail, brother hemlock tree!
Subject(s): Hemlocks


Deep in the Northern Lands
Where mountains are, and man may be alone,
Where nothing breaks the silence save the moan
Of slumbering forests and the eagle's cry
Above the peaks that lone and nameless lie,
Vast, shaggy, wild, unscathed by human hands
A hemlock forest stands.

So black it is and drear,
'T is dark at mid-day, and at night there shines no star;
And save the owl's, heard weirdly from afar,
Within its deeps no voice of beast or bird,
And on its velvet floors no sound is heard
Save when at fearsome noon the timorous deer
May seek a refuge here.

Long may the deadly fire
And deadlier axe be far, for in my soul
I love the hemlock with his shaggy bole,
His wild grotesquery, and his daintiness
In days of June, his glorious summer dress,
His head among the clouds, his call ... "Aspire!
The hills are high—be higher!"

I too would fly to thee,
O sheltering hemlock, brother of my soul,
Beneath thy dome I hear the organ roll
Of worlds unknown. I too would fight
Like thee the blast, the coming winter night,
With thee my soul awakes and I am free!
Hail, brother hemlock tree!





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