The writings of John Greenleaf Whittier, Volume 1.
John Greenleaf Whittier, Ed.

That song of Love, now low and far,
Erelong shall swell from star to star!
That light, the breaking day, which tips
The golden-spired Apocalypse! “

Then, when my good friend shook his head,
And, sighling, sadly smiled, I said:
“Thou mind'st me of a story told
In rare Bernardin's leaves of gold.”

and while the slanted sunbeams wove
The shadows of the frost-stained grove,
And, picturing all, the river ran
O'er cloud and wood, I thus began:—

In Mount Valerien's chestnut wood
The Chapel of the Hermits stood;
And thither, at the close of day,
Came two old pilgrims, worn and gray.

One, whose impetuous youth defied
The storms of Baikal's wintry side,
And mused and dreamed where tropic day
Flamed o'er his lost Virginia's bay.

His simple tale of love and woe
All hearts had melted, high or low;—