Mary Gardiner Horsford

“ For their armies were spent in the unequal strife,
And Famine was maddening the pulses of life,
The pestilence lurked in the zephyr's soft breath,
And the gall-drops were poured from the drawn sword of Death.
The Night with starred garments moved noiseless on high,
When they felt a hot blast on the cool air draw nigh;—
Did pinions infernal rejoicing sweep by?
[Pg 128] They beheld a wild flash o'er the firmament shine;—
Came there aid from above,—a legation divine?
There is fire on the mount, there is smoke in the air;
The red flames shoot upward with bright, spectral glare ”

“ And strength for the weary who fail in the strife,
And falter before the great warfare of Life.
I've love for the friendless; a morrow of light
For him who is wrapped in adversity's night;
With trust for the doubting, a field for the soul,
[Pg 121] That has dared from its loftier purpose to stroll,
To haste to the conflict, and blot out the shame
With the deeds of repentance, and resolute aim
To seek, 'mid the struggle with tempters and sin,
The high meed of virtue triumphant to win. ”

“ In the dust with the lamps that had glimmered all day;
The censers and altar the ashes must claim,
Though their unalloyed gold be the gold of Parvaim.
Fierce raged the consumer insatiate and strong,
And cursed was its light by that soul-stricken throng,
[Pg 129] Who beheld their destruction and anguish and shame,
Engraved by the lurid and forked tongues of flame,
On pillar and pommel and chapiter high,
Distinct as the law they had dared to defy,
Was traced through the cloud where the Deity shone
By the finger of God on the tablets of stone ”

“ Of youth's deep, fearless trust, that light the scroll
With an intenser glow,—records of heart and soul!
Give back—for thou hast more—
Give back the kindly words we loved so well,
Voices, whose music on the spirit fell,
But tenderness to pour;
The steps that never now around us tread,
Faces that haunt our sleep: give back, give back the dead.
[Pg 118] Give back!—who shall explore
Creation's boundless realms to mark thy prey? ”

“ Unsullied and pure is the future's broad scroll,
And as leaf after leaf from its folds shall unroll,
The warp and the woof they are woven by me,
But the shadows and coloring rest, mortal, with thee.
'T is thine to cast over those leaves as they bloom,
[Pg 122] The sunlight of morning or hues of the tomb;
Though moments of sorrow to all must be given,
There 's a vista of light that leads up to heaven ”

“ The superstitions attached to the phenomena of the thunderstorm and Aurora Borealis, alluded to in the poem, are well authenticated.
I saw him in vision,—the last of that race
Who were destined to vanish before the Pale-face,
As the dews of the evening from mountain and dale,
When the thirsty young Morning withdraws her dark veil;
Alone with the Past and the Future's chill breath,
Like a soul that has entered the valley of Death. ”

“ Did human love, with all
Its passionate might and meek endurance strong,—
The love that mocks at Time and scorns the pall,
Through conflict fierce and long,—
Live in thy soul, yet know no future's ray? ”

“ Blessings on the gentle bride.
[Pg 99] Tranquilly the morning sunbeam
Over field and hamlet stole,
Wove a glory round each red leaf,
Then effaced the Frost-king's scroll:
Eyes responded to its greeting
As a lake's still waters shine,
Young hearts bounded,—and a gay group
Sought the home of Madeline.
Bird-like voices 'neath the casement
Chanted in the hazy air,
A sweet orison for wakening,—
Half thanksgiving and half prayer. ”

“ The path of the blast;
While in the forest
Lay rent the huge tree,
Up rose the red man,
All unharmed and free.
[Pg 13] Bright glittered each leaf
With sunlight and spray,
And close at his feet
The thunder-bolt lay,
And moccasins, wrought
With the beads that shine,
Where the rainbow hangeth
A wampum divine. ”

“ For the jewels and gold;
And workmen delved ages
That sepulchre o'er,
But found of the city
A trace never more.
And now, on the height
Of that fathomless tomb,
The fair Alpine flowers
In loveliness bloom;
And the water-falls chant,
Through their minster of snow,
A mass for the spirits
That slumber below.
[Pg 47]
THE LEGEND OF THE IRON CROSS.
"There dwelt a nun in Dryburgh bower
Who ne'er beheld the day."
Twilight o'er the East is stealing,
And the sun is in the vale:
'T is a fitting moment, stranger,
To relate a wondrous tale. ”

“ And lonely forest glade,
Where low winds stir with fragrant breath
The purple violet's head,
And the star-grass in the early Spring
Peeps from the sear leaf's bed.
I would no more of strife and tears
Might on thee ever meet,
But when against the tide of years
This heart has ceased to beat,
Where the green weeping-willows bend
I fain would go to rest,
Where waters chant, and winds may sweep
Above my peaceful breast.
[Pg 58]
THE LOST PLEIAD.
A void is in the sky! ”

“ With a soft and starry night;
'Neath the burning suns of Summer,
Withered, scorched, the spring-flower lies,
Human hearts contract, when strangers
Long to clouds and tearful eyes.
Give her purpose strong and holy,
Faith and self-devotion high;
These Life's common by-ways brighten
Every hope intensify. ”

“ The turbulence of life
O'erwhelm this calm of innocence
With melancholy strife;
"From all the foes that lurk without,
From feebleness within,
What Sovereign guard from Heaven," I asked,
"Will strong beseeching win?" ”

“ Where his sword was uplifted a soul went to God.
But that brave arm alone might not conquer in strife,
[Pg 22] The madness of grief was conflicting with Life;
His steed fell beneath him, the death-shot whizzed by,
And he rushed on the swords of the victors to die.
'Neath the murmuring pine trees they laid side by side,
The gallant young soldier, the fair, murdered bride:
And never again from that traitorous night,
The red man dared stand in the battle's fierce storm,
For ever before him a phantom of light,
Rose up in the white maiden's beautiful form ”

“ Who mount where man has never thought to sway,
Or science dared to soar?
Oh! who shall tell what suns have set for aye,
What worlds gone out, what systems passed away?
Not till the stars shall fall,
And earth and sky before God's mandate flee,
Shall human vision look, or spirit see,
Beneath thy mystic pall:
But hark! with accent clear, and flute-like swell,
Floats up the New Year's voice,—Departed one, farewell!
[Pg 119]
SONG OF THE NEW YEAR.
As the bright flowers start from their wintry tomb,
I've sprung from the depths of futurity's gloom ”

“ And her fair cheek grew pale at the forest bird's start,
But he said, as he mounted his steed to depart,
"Nay, fear not, but trust to the chief for thy guide,
And the light of the morrow shall see thee my bride."
Why faltered the words ere the sentence was o'er?
Why trembled each heart like the surf on the shore?
In a marvellous legend of old it is said,
That the cross where the Holy One suffered and bled
Was built of the aspen, whose pale silver leaf,
Has ever more quivered with horror and grief ”

“ Through infinite space and creation divine,
As the maiden came forth for her bridal arrayed,
And was led by the red men through forest and shade,
Till they paused where a fountain gushed clear in its play,
And the tall pines rose dark and sublime o'er their way.
Alas for the visions that, joyous and pure,
Wove a vista of light through the Future's obscure!
Contention waxed fierce 'neath the evergreen boughs,
[Pg 20] And the braves of the chieftain were false to his vows ”

“ As gold the fiery flame;
And may the years that bind our hearts
In love that cannot die,
Still draw us hourly nearer God,
And nearer to the sky.
[Pg 92]
THE POET'S LESSON. "He who would write heroic poems, must make his whole life a heroic poem."—Milton. ”

“ The noble deed with a mightier tone
Shall sound through latest time.
[Pg 94] Then poems two, at each upward flight,
In glorious measure fill;
Be the Poem in words, one of beauty and might,
But the Life one, loftier still.
[Pg 95]
MADELINE. A LEGEND OF THE MOHAWK.
Where the waters of the Mohawk
Through a quiet valley glide,
From the brown church to her dwelling
She that morning passed a bride.
In the mild light of October
Beautiful the forest stood,
As the temple on Mount Zion
When God filled its solitude. ”

“ THE PHANTOM BRIDE.
During the Revolutionary war, a young American lady was murdered, while dressed in her bridal robe, by a party of Indians, sent by her betrothed to conduct her to the village where he was encamped. After the deed was done, they carried her long hair to her lover, who, urged by a frantic despair, hurried to the spot to assure himself of the truth of the tale, and shortly after threw himself, in battle, on the swords of his countrymen. ”

“ Leave it steadfast, fair and new;—
Visions that elude for ever,
As the silent years depart,
Some unhappy ones and weary,—
Mona Lisas of the heart.
[Pg 144] Gleams of that divine completeness
God's angelic ones attain,
Pass amid our toils before us,
And we emulate in vain.
Poet fancies crowd the spirit,
We would print upon the scroll—
But that perfect utterance faileth—
Mona Lisas of the soul.
[Pg 145]
SPRING LILIES.
'Neath their green and cool cathedrals,
In the garden lilies bloom,
Casting to the fresh Spring Zephyrs
Peal on peal of sweet perfume. ”

“ THE HIGHLAND GIRL'S LAMENT.
The ancient Highlanders believed the spirits of their departed friends continually present, and that their imagined appearances and voices communicated warnings of approaching death. ”

“ PLEURS.
The town of Pleurs, situated among the Alps and containing about two thousand five hundred inhabitants, was overwhelmed in 1618 by the falling of Mount Conto. The avalanche occurred in the night, and no trace of the village or any of its inhabitants could ever after be discovered.
'T was eve; and Mount Conto
Reflected in night
The sunbeams that fled
With the monarch of light;
As great souls and noble
Reflect evermore
The sunshine that gleams
From Eternity's shore. ”

“ There is an artless tradition among the Indians, related by Irving, of a warrior who saw the thunderbolt lying upon the ground, with a beautifully wrought moccasin on each side of it. Thinking he had found a prize, he put on the moccasins, but they bore him away to the land of spirits, whence he never returned. ”

“ Those locks of pale gold floated past on the air.
[Pg 23]
THE LAUGHING WATER.
The Indian name for the Falls of St. Anthony signifies "Laughing Water," and here tradition says that a young woman of the Dahcotah tribe, the father of her children having taken another wife, unmoored her canoe above the fall, and placing herself and children in it, sang her death-song as she went over the foaming declivity.
The sun went down the west
As a warrior to his grave,
And touched with crimson hue
The "Laughing Water's" wave ”

“ MONA LISA.
Leonardo da Vinci is said to have been four years employed upon the portrait of Mona Lisa, a fair Florentine, without being able to come up to the idea of her beauty.
Artist! lay the brush aside ”

“ That swept, like a torrent, Jehoshaphat's vale.
It is related by Josephus, that when the Jews perceived the conflagration of the Holy House, they broke out into such groans and outcries that all the mountains round about the city returned the echo.
Page 130.
And a strange world came forth from the regions of space
And hung like a sword o'er the grave of that race.
[Pg 167] According to Josephus "a star resembling a sword stood over the city." ”