Fitz-Greene Halleck

“ I think, is the nightingale singing there yet?
⁠Are the roses still bright by the calm Bendemeer?
No! the roses soon withered that hung o'er the wave,
⁠But some blossoms were gathered while freshly they shone;
And a dew was distilled from their flowers, that gave
⁠All the fragrance of summer when summer was gone.
Thus memory draws from delight ere it dies,
⁠An essence that breathes of it many a year;
Thus bright to my soul, as 'twas then to my eyes,
⁠Is that bower on the banks of the calm Bendemeer. ”

“ The answer is a silent one,
⁠More eloquent than words.
6.
The moonlight music of the waves
⁠In storms is heard no more,
When the living lightning mocks the wreck
⁠At midnight on the shore;
And the mariner's song of home has ceased,
⁠His corse is on the sea—
And music ceases when it rains
⁠In Scudder's balcony. ”

“ And these are innocent thoughts—a man may sit
⁠Upon a bright throne of his own creation:
Untortured by the ghastly sprites that flit
⁠Around the many, whose exalted station
Has been attained by means 'twere pain to hint on,
Just for the rhyme's sake—instance Mr. Clinton.
xxviii.
He struggled hard, but not in vain, and breathes
⁠The mountain air at last; but there are others
Who strove, like him, to win the glittering wreaths
⁠Of power, his early partisans and brothers,
That linger yet in dust from whence they sprung,
Unhonored and unpaid, though, luckily, unhung. ”

“ And politics, and country; the pure glow
⁠Of patriot ardor, and the consciousness
That talents such as his might well bestow
⁠A lustre on the city; she would bless
His name; and that some service should be done her,
He pledged "life, fortune, and his sacred honor."
xviii.
And when the sounds of music and of mirth,
⁠Bursting from Fashion's groups assembled there,
Were heard, as round their lone plebeian hearth
⁠Fanny and he were seated—he would dare
To whisper fondly that the time might come
When he and his could give as brilliant routs at home. ”

“ Champagne will bathe the heart a while in bliss,
⁠And keep the head a little time from thinking
Of cares or creditors—the best wine in town
You'll get from Lynch—the cash must be paid down.
xxiv.
But if you are a bachelor, like me,
⁠And spurn all chains, even though made of roses,
I'd recommend cigars—there is a free
⁠And happy spirit, that, unseen, reposes
On the dim shadowy clouds that hover o'er you,
When smoking quietly with a warm fire before you. ”

“ That is—knew how much money he was worth.
xxxvii.
Alas! poor human nature; had he been
⁠But satisfied with this, his golden days
Their setting hour of darkness had not seen,
⁠And he might still (in the mercantile phrase)
Be living "in good order and condition;"
But he was ruined by that jade Ambition,
xxxviii.
"That last infirmity of noble minds,"
⁠Whose spell, like whiskey, your true patriot liquor,
To politics the lofty hearts inclines
⁠Of all, from Clinton down to the bill-sticker
Of a ward-meeting. She came slyly creeping
To his bedside, where he lay snug and sleeping. ”

“ The gaze of the great world, he breathed the air
Of Pearl Street—and "set up" in Hanover Square.
vi.
Money is power, 'tis said—I never tried;
⁠I'm but a poet—and bank-notes to me
Are curiosities, as closely eyed,
⁠Whene'er I get them, as a stone would be,
Toss'd from the moon on Doctor Mitchill's table,
Or classic brickbat from the tower of Babel.
vii.
But he I sing of well has known and felt
⁠That money hath a power and a dominion;
For when in Chatham-street the good man dwelt,
⁠No one would give a sous for his opinion. ”

“ Eve never walked in Paradise more pure
⁠Than on that morn when Satan played the devil,
With her and all her race. A love-sick wooer
⁠Ne'er asked a kinder maiden, or more civil,
Than Cleopatra was to Antony
The day she left him on the Ionian sea.
clvii.
The serpent—loveliest in his coilèd ring,
⁠With eye that charms, and beauty that outvies
The tints of the rainbow—bears upon his sting
⁠The deadliest venom. Ere the dolphin dies
Its hues are brightest. Like an infant's breath
Are tropic winds before the voice of death
clviii. ”

“ A decent kind of person; one whose head
⁠Was not of brains particularly full;
It was not known that he had ever said
⁠Any thing worth repeating—'twas a dull,
Good, honest man—what Paulding's muse would call
A "cabbage head"—but he excelled them all
ix.
In that most noble of the sciences,
⁠The art of making money; and he found
The zeal for quizzing him grew less and less,
⁠As he grew richer; till upon the ground
Of Pearl Street, treading proudly in the might
And majesty of wealth, a sudden light
x. ”

“ Alas! for Paulding—I regret to see
⁠In such a stanza one whose giant powers,
Seen in their native element, will be
⁠Known to a future age, the pride of ours.
There is none breathing who can better wield
The battle-axe of satire. On its field
lxii.
The wreath he fought for he has bravely won,
⁠Long be its laurel green around his brow!
It is too true, I'm somewhat fond of fun
⁠And jesting; but for once I'm serious now.
Why is he sipping weak Castalian dews?
The muse has damned him—let him damn the muse. ”

“ And white sails o'er the calm blue waters bent,
⁠Green isle, and circling shore, are blended there
In wild reality. When life is old,
And many a scene forgot, the heart will hold
xcix.
Its memory of this; nor lives there one
⁠Whose infant breath was drawn, or boyhood's days
Of happiness were passed beneath that sun,
⁠That in his manhood's prime can calmly gaze
Upon that bay, or on that mountain stand,
Nor feel the prouder of his native land.
c.
"This may be poetry, for aught I know,"
⁠Said an old, worthy friend of mine, while leaning
Over my shoulder as I wrote ”

“ Brokers of all grades—stock and pawn—and Jews
⁠Of all religions, who at noonday form,
On 'Change, that brotherhood the moral muse
⁠Delights in, where the heart is pure and warm,
And each exerts his intellectual force
To cheat his neighbor—legally, of course. ”

“ Or whence, the sounds are brought from, and their power,
⁠Though brief, is boundless. That far, future home,
Oft dreamed of, beckons near—its rose-wreathed bower,
⁠And cloudless skies before us: we become
Changed on the instant—all gold leaf and gilding;
This is, in vulgar phrase, called "castle building."
xxii.
But these, like sunset clouds, fade soon; 'tis vain
⁠To bid them linger longer, or to ask
On what day they intend to call again ”

“ She was among the first and warmest patrons
⁠Of Griscom's conversaziones where
In rainbow groups, our bright-eyed maids and matrons,
⁠On science bent, assemble; to prepare
Themselves for acting well, in life, their part
As wives and mothers. ”

“ But Fortune, like some others of her sex,
⁠Delights in tantalizing and tormenting;
One day we feed upon their smiles—the next
⁠Is spent in swearing, sorrowing, and repenting.
(If in the last four lines the author lies,
He's always ready to apologize.) ”

“ She has long been thrown
⁠Where cheeks and roses wither—in the shade.
The age of chivalry, you know, is gone;
⁠And although, as I once before have said,
I love a pretty face to adoration,
Yet, still, I must preserve my reputation,
cv.
As a true dandy of the modern schools.
⁠One hates to be old-fashioned; it would be
A violation of the latest rules,
⁠To treat the sex with too much courtesy.
'Tis not to worship beauty, as she glows
In all her diamond lustre, that the beaux
cvi. ”

“ Or any thing you please, in short, that screens
⁠The face, and hides the form from top to toe;
Of power to brave a quizzing-glass, or storm—
'Tis worn in summer, when the weather's warm.
xliii.
But a full dress is for a winter's night.
⁠The most genteel is made of "woven air;" ”

“ To do its task of woe. The clouds that fling
⁠The lightning, brighten ere the bolt appears;
The pantings of the warrior's heart are proud
Upon that battle morn whose night-dews wet his shroud;
clix.
The son is loveliest as he sinks to rest;
⁠The leaves of autumn smile when fading fast;
The swan's last song is sweetest—and the best
⁠Of Meigs's speeches, doubtless, was his last.
And thus the happiest scene, in these my rhymes,
Closed with a crash, and ushered in—hard times.
clx.
St. Paul's tolled one—and fifteen minutes after
⁠Down came, by accident, a chandelier ”

“ The theme of loungers in their morning walk,
⁠Porter-house reasoning, and tea-table chat.
The third, some newer wonder came to blot them,
And on the fourth, the "meddling world" forgot them.
clxvii. ”

“ One's creditors are the most impudent;
cl.
"Now I am one who knows what he is doing,
⁠And suits exactly to his means his ends;
How can a man be in the path to ruin,
⁠When all the brokers are his bosom friends? ”

“ In different grades of splendor, from the head
⁠Down to the very toe of our nobility:
Ladies, remarkable for handsome eyes
Or handsome fortunes—learned men, and wise
cxxix.
Statesmen, and officers of the militia—
⁠In short, the "first society"—a phrase,
Which you may understand as best may fit you ”

“ Instinctively will flock and fly together."
lxxv.
The winds that wave thy cedar boughs are breathing,
⁠"Lake of the Dismal Swamp!" that poet's name;
And the spray-showers their noonday halos wreathing
⁠Around "Cohoes," are brightened by his fame. ”