Share:
  Guess poet | Poets | Poets timeline | Isles | Contacts

James Russell Lowell - To A Pine-TreeJames Russell Lowell - To A Pine-Tree
Work rating: Low


Far up on Katahdin thou towerest,   Purple-blue with the distance and vast; Like a cloud o`er the lowlands thou lowerest,   That hangs poised on a lull in the blast,     To its fall leaning awful. In the storm, like a prophet o`er-maddened,   Thou singest and tossest thy branches; Thy heart with the terror is gladdened,   Thou forebodest the dread avalanches,     When whole mountains swoop valeward. In the calm thou o`erstretchest the valleys   With thine arms, as if blessings imploring, Like an old king led forth from his palace,   When his people to battle are pouring     From the city beneath him. To the lumberer asleep `neath thy glooming   Thou dost sing of wild billows in motion, Till he longs to be swung mid their booming   In the tents of the Arabs of ocean,     Whose finned isles are their cattle. For the gale snatches thee for his lyre,   With mad hand crashing melody frantic, While he pours forth his mighty desire   To leap down on the eager Atlantic,     Whose arms stretch to his playmate. The wild storm makes his lair in thy branches,   Swooping thence on the continent under; Like a lion, crouched close on his haunches,   There awaiteth his leap the fierce thunder,     Growling low with impatience. Spite of winter, thou keep`st thy green glory,   Lusty father of Titans past number! The snow-flakes alone make thee hoary,   Nestling close to thy branches in slumber,     And thee mantling with silence. Thou alone know`st the splendor of winter,   Mid thy snow-silvered, hushed precipices, Hearing crags of green ice groan and splinter,   And then plunge down the muffled abysses     In the quiet of midnight. Thou alone know`st the glory of summer   Gazing down on thy broad seas of forest, On thy subjects that send a proud murmur   Up to thee, to their sachem, who towerest     From thy bleak throne to heaven.
Source

The script ran 0.001 seconds.