James Ryder Randall

“ I did not love you for your face—I loved you for your soul!
You left me, darling child, before the Promised Land was won,
And it was hard for me to look upon the living sun.
’Twas no ignoble whim that hoped to make you mine alway;
My idol was no frenzy of the perishable clay.
And if I kneel to you no more, save by the churchyard knoll,
I have not loved you for your face—I’ve loved you for your soul! ”

“ I hear the distant thunder hum,
Maryland!
The Old Line’s bugle fife and drum,
Maryland!
She is not dead, nor deaf, nor dumb—
Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!
She breathes! she burns! she’ll come! she’ll come! ”

“ No evil deed could stain thee,
And now ’mid the combat’s iron chime,
In purity they’ve slain thee.
Sans peur et sans reproche to live,
Sans peur the foe defying—
Sans peur et sans reproche we give
Thy epitaph when dying. ”

“ Poor Doll! beyond the icebergs of your life
There throbs no open sea!
I sought it once, and lo! my former self
Is shipwrecked in the quest.
See the impassioned Franklin, with his pelf,
Dead on your gelid breast.
You scream—’tis but a delicate doll’s cry—
A trick, as all perceive it;
They say you’re stuffed with sawdust—though a lie,
A skeptic might believe it! ”

“ The livelong day they skim the air,
The livelong night they slumber there—
Wild, wand’ring souls of those who sleep
Beneath the coral-citied deep,
And from the shades heart-break to be
Far out at sea! far out at sea!
Far out at sea! far out at sea! ”

“ My days are bleak, my thoughts are wild,
I am but sea-weed on the billow.
For me nor love, nor home, nor wife
Can ever be a curse or blessing—
The envious riddle of my life
Would puzzle half your days in guessing. ”

“ If lost, it was false; if true, it is not lost. If the Cause is lost, the Constitution is lost; the Union, defined by it is lost; the liberty of the States and the people, which they both at first and for half a century guarded, are lost.”—Henry A. Wise.
“Yet, Freedom yet, thy banner, torn though flying,
Streams, like a thunderstorm, against the wind.” ”

“ His reply was worthy of any age: “Wagon loads of gold shall never buy me!” A few months afterward, he died and was buried among the Thousand Islands in a remote corner of the land which gave him birth, which he had fought to possess and which he never relinguished utterly.
An old, old man, in thicker shades
Than brood upon the brows of Night,
Hath lit the ghastly Everglades
With an imperishable light;
A light more brilliant in its flame
From the dusk soul from whence it came,
Amid the war-cloud’s clashing fame—
It burns! ”

“ Written on the occasion of the unveiling of the Clay Statue, April 12th, 1860
Immortal Mind! thy burning torch
A deathless halo flings
Around the Prophets crucified,
And Sybaritic Kings;
We chaunt, today, a pæan song
To thy divinest flashes—
To our imperishable one,
The Mill Boy of the Slashes!
The fervid breast of Nature poured
Its deluge to his sips,
The bee-winged breezes charmed anew
Hymettus to his lips,
Till, like a cleaving peak, his thoughts
To sunward regions ran,
And god beheld beneath his throne
A mountain hearted Man. ”

“ The hour arrived for setting the watch for the officer of the day went to the General’s tent and said:
“General, the men are all wearied and there is not one but is asleep. Shall I wake them?”
“No,” said the noble Jackson. “Let them sleep, and I will watch the camp tonight.”
And all night long he rode around that lonely camp, the one lone sentinel for that brave, but weary, body of Virginia heroes. When glorious morning broke, the soldiers awoke fresh and ready for action, all unconscious of the vigil kept over their slumbers. ”

“ O Mother of a blessed soul on high!
Thy tears may soon be shed—
Think of thy boy with princes of the sky,
Among the Southern Dead.
How must he smile on this dull world beneath,
Favored with swift renown ”

“ Is a woman’s white dress with its bodice and braid.
The visions of youth are the wizards of thought,
No matter how gusty, no matter how good;
How many have married the woman they sought—
How seldom we marry the woman we should! ”

“ Dear Jesus, I believe that Thou
Did’st rise again,
Instill the spirit in me now
That conquers pain.
Give me the grace to cast aside
All vain desire,
All the fierce throbbing of a pride
That flames like fire. ”

“ Ha! I see that my secret is guessed—every bit—
For she’s nibbling her lip, and the fan is in tatters.
Beautiful—yes! but I shall not succumb,
Though wifeless from Beersheba even to Dan;
Heigho! if my heart were but under her thumb,
She’d crumple it, too, like the innocent fan! ”

“ Shall into thy bonnet and bossom retreat
With a stinging like snow,
Which is woe—
Only my curse, my curse you know!
Not rude or redly—
Nothing but snow!
As shy—as smooth—as cool—as slow—
As deadly. ”

“ Spectres of flowerets pictured on mine eyes,
Robed in a shroud of doubt.
Here, in the hot June midnight, grave and lone,
By the dull candle’s flare,
I weave unutterable words, and moan
Over a woman’s hair.
“Only a woman’s hair!” ”

“ For she is the darlingest bird of day,
But these are the birds of night.
The dear God nestles her eyes in sleep,
And her visions are beautiful and serene;
The dawn has nothing for her to weep,
With a flushed, disheveled mien. ”

“ Where the parched gulls to velvet waves descend,
Be thou, my Monolith of Faith, my friend!
Devoted Heart! that bore mine, like an ark,
Through the blind deluge of disease and care,
Giving it shelter in the light when dark
And hideous fortunes throttled with despair—
While the glad planets o’er the globe impend,
Be thou my battlement of Pride, my friend! ”

“ For those who fought for Freedom, scorning shame,
Then bartered life for an eternal fame!
Thus, not in vain, he courts the willing ear—
Calls on the dead, and living forms appear;
Both gods and men in awful grandeur move—
The “Blind old Bard”—the “Cloud-compelling Jove!” ”

“ Ha!
Who is gentler, who is fairer, ha! ha! who is sweeter,
Who is brighter, ha! ha! who is wittier and neater,
Than the queen of my spirit—its glorified defeater—
Ha! Ha! Ha! Malgherita! Malgherita! ”

“ Above the relics of a vanquished land,
And light the torch of sanctifying fires.
Your bed of honor has a rosy cope,
To shimmer back the tributary stars;
And every petal glistens with a hope
When Love has blossomed in the disk of Mars. ”

“ My times have been tumultuous, they shall know
The ecstacy of rest.
They marred the work of heaven when they scoff’d
My unpolluted truth—
Oh, it was death to feel the venom-dews
Trickling the veins of youth! ”

“ With just such a face and just such an air,
As Esther upon her throne.
She’s sifting lint for the brave who bled,
And I watch her fingers float and flow
Over the linen, as thread by thread,
It flakes to her lap like snow. ”

“ The coheirs of Porphyrogene,
Their dreams are royal and serene
Beneath the Night’s sweet sybil queen.
Methinks, their sad song sadly calls
From every breeze that swells and falls
Along the Coliseum’s halls. ”

“ I looked, with a gallant smile, aloft,
And my spirit had no gall.
My steps were turned to the ball again,
With an arching front and a springy tread—
“Oh, she is an angel to this train;
She is better than any,” I said. ”

“ Lo! a legion like the stars,
Speeding from their crystal cars,
Leap beyond the sable bars;
How they glittered as they roll’d!
How thy streets are stormed with gold!
Undine! Undine! thou art princess of the parables of old! ”

“ Sword splinters sword, lance crashes against lance—
Away! the golden lamp swings forth once more
And all is mute upon that dreamy shore!
The living hills are marble for the dead,
Their burial ground is where they fought and bled,
Their epitaph is centred in a breath—
“The dying freeman yields not quite to death!” ”

“ Have fled for aye,
From Friendship’s glance and Beauty’s winsome smile,
I pass away,
After a little while.
After a little while,
The snow will fall from time and trial shocks
Down these dark locks ”

“ A wretch abhorred,
I broke my sword
Upon the buckler of the Lord;
I feel the shock,
Upon my rock,
While the foul condors ’round me flock.
Good-bye! good-bye!
I can not die
Beneath thy sacramental eye ”

“ O shining tresses of the sun!
O eyes of ocean blue!
O dainty feet to nimbly run
Upon the glittering dew!
The cypress breathes its gloomy buds
On all I felt and feel—
Still I love thee! Still I love thee! ”

“ Where the chosen who triumph in anguish have trod.
Christ, in His passion,
Teaches your heart
How sadness may fashion,
With wonderful grace,
The soul for its place
Where mothers and children have never to part. ”

“ That musky summer noon,
As the zephyrs kissed in ecstasy
The dimpled cheeks of June—
As the sunlight drifted o’er thy brow
A golden wave of grace,
Bright blending with the miracles
Of that angelic face. ”

“ The wizard charm is on me now—
Speak to me, darling, with thine eyes!
And with thine eyes, beloved, speak
The subtle thought that keeps me strong,
The sacred hope that fires my cheek
In combat with the base and wrong. ”

“ Are mounds that hide Confederate braves,
Who reck not how the North wind raves,
In dazzling day or dimmest night,
O'er those who lost and those who won;
Death holds no parley which was right—
Jehovah judges Arlington. ”

“ THE DYING GIRL
Written at the Age of Sixteen
Earth is fading—heaven beaming—
All around grows dark and chill;
White robed phantoms near me streaming—
Streaming, streaming, streaming still.
Clasp me, mother, clasp me lightly,
Lest you press the soul too soon
From the form that once shone brightly—
Quenched its brilliance in its noon. ”

“ And answered all their glad surprise
With love that falters not nor dies,
My bonny Kate!
You must remember times so bright
When every pulse thrilled through with light,
Watching the sweet morn’s silver flight,
My bonny Kate! ”

“ Hover above this grand Reunion feast
To watch our Banner, from the grave of strife
Rise with the glory of a new-born life;
Twined with the ancient flag, o’er land and main,
And wed to deathless liberty again. ”

“ The pulse of nature throbs anew
Impassioned of the sun;
The violet, with eyes of blue,
Is modest as a nun.
The roses reek not of the strife
That crashes up the North;
Alas! the mockery of life
When Death is striding forth. ”

“ To snap the jocund circle of my friends!
So, one by one, they fled all things terrene,
To seek the mystic shore that never ends—
Where Mortal must on th’ Immortal lean,
Where the true Ideal with the Real blends. ”

“ Arm yourselves and be valiant men, and see that we be in readiness against the morning, that ye may fight with these nations that are assembled against us, to destroy us and our sanctuary.
For it is better for us to die in battle than to behold the calamities of our people and our sanctuary.—Maccabees 1. ”

“ With the pale dreamers in the dust.
Father! if peace is not with them,
Where shall we seek for the subtle gem?
’Tis not of the Earth, for we lose it here,
And death is the gate of the golden sphere. ”

“ But never flees
Their sorcery of sorceries.
Truth, Grace, and Love
From worlds above—
Hints of the Pure and Holy Dove—
Divinely bright,
These gems of sight
Are throned upon their globes of light. ”

“ Beyond the rampart, how my gaze
Went proudly o’er the Southern sea!
And dreams like mine can still defy
Even the tempest of distrust;
I know that they shall never die
Because they are not of the dust. ”

“ That calms all human strife,
Making the gloomy grave itself
The Golden Gate of Life!
“The love that shall not lose its own
Must seek celestial fire—
Must light its torch by Heavenly flame,
And not the Pagan pyre.
Mother! dear mother! ”

“ For that bright angel Thou hast won
Was my sweet lamb, my only son.
How shall an earthly mother bear
Such awful anguish and despair?
How shall she live, and living, know
Such depths of overwhelming woe? ”

“ Is always conqueror over Wrong and Death.
The grand procession of avenging years
Has turned to triumph all our bitter tears;
And the cause lost, by battle’s stern behest,
Is won by Justice, and by Heaven blest.
Dark grew the night above our sacred slain,
Who sleeps upon the mountain and the plain ”