Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WEEHAWKEN, by ROBERT CHARLES SANDS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WEEHAWKEN, by                    
First Line: Eve o'er our path is stealing fast
Last Line: The instant ere the death-shot came.
Subject(s): Weehawken, New Jersey


Eve o'er our path is stealing fast;
Yon quivering splendors are the last
The sun will fling, to tremble o'er
The waves that kiss the opposing shore;
His latest glories fringe the height
Behind us, with their golden light.

The mountain's mirrored outline fades
Amid the fast-extending shades;
Its shaggy bulk, in sterner pride,
Towers, as the gloom steals o'er the tide;
For the great stream a bulwark meet
That laves its rock-encumbered feet.

River and mountain! though to song
Not yet, perchance, your names belong;
Those who have loved your evening hues
Will ask not the recording Muse
What antique tales she can relate
Your banks and steeps to consecrate.

Yet, should the stranger ask what lore
Of bygone days this winding shore,
Yon cliffs and fir-clad steeps, could tell,
If vocal made by Fancy's spell --
The varying legend might rehearse
Fit themes for high, romantic verse.

O'er yon rough heights and moss-clad sod
Oft hath the stalwart warrior trod;
Or peered, with hunter's gaze, to mark
The progress of the glancing bark.
Spoils, strangely won on distant waves,
Have lurked in yon obstructed caves.

When the great strife for Freedom rose,
Here scouted oft her friends and foes
Alternate, through the changeful war
And beacon-fires flashed bright and far;
And here, when Freedom's strife was won,
Fell, in sad feud, her favored son --

Her son, the second of the band,
The Romans of the rescued land.
Where round yon capes the banks ascend,
Long shall the pilgrim's footsteps bend;
There mirthful hearts shall pause to sigh,
There tears shall dim the patriot's eye.

There last he stood. Before his sight
Flowed the fair river, free and bright;
The rising mart, and isles, and bay,
Before him in their glory lay --
Scenes of his love and of his fame --
The instant ere the death-shot came.





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