Classic Poem

I' M free at last from cities vast,
And off to running brooks,
'Mong savage woods and roaring floods,
And Nature's glorious nooks!
The branches spread above my head,
Beneath the woodbine twines;
All hail, again, your blue domain,
Great brotherhood of pines!

Untouch'd by time, ye tow'r sublime,
Aloft in rocky steep;
Ye're seated there, like lords of air,
In council-chambers deep.
On burnish'd breasts and gleaming crests
A quiet halo shines,
While torrents sweep and roar and leap,
Great brotherhood of pines!

When morn awakes from out the lakes,
Ye pour your holy hymns,
And dying day in mantle grey
With phantoms round you swims.
No harp can ring, no sounding string
Such flood of song combines;
Old minstrels ye of the greenwoods be,
Great brotherhood of pines!

When storms are high in midnight sky,
And wild waves lash the shore,
Afar up there, with harps of air,
Ye join in wild uproar.
With groaning woods and moaning floods
Your awful voice combines —
The deep refrain of thunder's strain —
Great brotherhood of pines!

By torrent's brim, on the rainbow's rim,
I climb your magic hall,
To hear you join in song divine
The thund'ring water-fall;
While through the screen of golden green
A mystic spirit shines.
Hail one and all, in magic hall,
Great brotherhood of pines!