The Colors at Cambridge
[William E. Russell , ex-Governor of Massachusetts, died suddenly while camping in the woods of New Brunswick, and was brought home to be buried at Mount Auburn. It was a week of unusually high wind. These lines were written at the time.)
FLAGS at half-staff that through the leafy city
Cloud street and hall in tragic mustering;
Flags in the offing, that for noble pity
Make for sea-spaces on a broken wing;
Cloud street and hall in tragic mustering;
Flags in the offing, that for noble pity
Make for sea-spaces on a broken wing;
Eagles low-flying, angels of our sorrow,
Boding and bright, on their full passion hurled,
Trail down the wind in stormy wake and furrow,
Poignantly marked across the summer world.
Boding and bright, on their full passion hurled,
Trail down the wind in stormy wake and furrow,
Poignantly marked across the summer world.
Ah, how they mourn with not-to-be-impeded
Gesture and cry of queens unreconciled,
One sunny strength illimitably needed,
Felled by the Hewer in the northern wild!
Gesture and cry of queens unreconciled,
One sunny strength illimitably needed,
Felled by the Hewer in the northern wild!
Yet if they knew, would these not triumph duly?
Glory, not grief, for him who willed to keep
Pure as the sword some warden angel newly
Draws by the cradle of baptismal sleep.
Glory, not grief, for him who willed to keep
Pure as the sword some warden angel newly
Draws by the cradle of baptismal sleep.
Green on the summits of the State hereafter,
See what a garland, beautiful, aflame!
Till Time abase them, there on wall and rafter,
Sweeter than jasmine climbs that absent name.
See what a garland, beautiful, aflame!
Till Time abase them, there on wall and rafter,
Sweeter than jasmine climbs that absent name.
Happy the land that late a field unfavored
Whitens to harvest where the martyrs are,
Knowing (from ways in which she nearly wavered),
This starry dust shall lead her like a star;
Whitens to harvest where the martyrs are,
Knowing (from ways in which she nearly wavered),
This starry dust shall lead her like a star;
Happy the land predestinate to cover
Yet in his youth, the early-laureled guest,
Who in her bosom lays so loved a lover,
Veiling with tears the chantry of his rest.
Yet in his youth, the early-laureled guest,
Who in her bosom lays so loved a lover,
Veiling with tears the chantry of his rest.
Flags at half-staff that through the leafy city
Cloud street and hall in tragic mustering;
Flags in the offing, that for noble pity
Make for sea-spaces on a broken wing;
Cloud street and hall in tragic mustering;
Flags in the offing, that for noble pity
Make for sea-spaces on a broken wing;
Eagles low-flying, angels of our sorrow,
Boding and bright, in your full passion hurled,
Rise on the wind in stormy wake and furrow,
Rise and rejoice, across the summer world.
Boding and bright, in your full passion hurled,
Rise on the wind in stormy wake and furrow,
Rise and rejoice, across the summer world.
Flag from thine heaven in willing fealty lowered,
Hiding thy face upon mine own roof-tree,
Weak with our wound through all this day untoward, —
O my Delight! look up, and quicken me:
Hiding thy face upon mine own roof-tree,
Weak with our wound through all this day untoward, —
O my Delight! look up, and quicken me:
Flag long-adored, and heart of mine below it,
Run to the mast-head, shake away the pain!
We two have done with death, for we shall know it
Never so touching nor so dear again.
Run to the mast-head, shake away the pain!
We two have done with death, for we shall know it
Never so touching nor so dear again.