And the mushroom's parasol - Francis Ledwidge FROM FOR AN AUTOGRAPH Greatly begin! though thou have time - James Russell Lowell CONCORD HYMN By the rude bridge that arched the flood, And fired the shot heard round the world. The foe long since in silence slept; Alike the conqueror silent sleeps; And Time the ruined bridge has swept Down the dark stream which seaward creeps. On this green bank, by this soft stream, Spirit, that made those heroes dare HORATIUS I Ralph Waldo Emerson Lars Porsena of Clusium By the Nine Gods he swore II East and west and south and north The messengers ride fast, And tower and town and cottage Have heard the trumpet's blast. Shame on the false Etruscan Who lingers in his home, When Porsena of Clusium Is on the march for Rome. III The horsemen and the footmen From many a stately market-place; From many a lonely hamlet, Which, hid by beech and pine, Like an eagle's nest, hangs on the crest Of purple Apennine; IV From lordly Volaterræ, Where scowls the far-famed hold Piled by the hands of giants For godlike kings of old; From seagirt Populonia, V From the proud mart of Pisæ, From where sweet Clanis wanders Through corn and vines and flowers; From where Cortona lifts to heaven Her diadem of towers. VI Tall are the oaks whose acorns Fat are the stags that champ the boughs Is to the herdsman dear; Best of all pools the fowler loves The great Volsinian mere. VII But now no stroke of woodman In the Volsinian mere. VIII The harvests of Arretium, This year, old men shall reap, This year, young boys in Umbro Shall plunge the struggling sheep; And in the vats of Luna, This year, the must shall foam Round the white feet of laughing girls Whose sires have marched to Rome. IX There be thirty chosen prophets, Both morn and evening stand: X And with one voice the Thirty Have their glad answer given: To Clusium's royal dome; XI And now hath every city Is met the great array. |