Classic Poem

There was heard a song on the chiming sea,
A mingled breathing of grief and glee;
Man's voice, unbroken by sighs, was there,
Filling with triumph the sunny air;
Of fresh green lands, and of pastures new,
It sang, while the bark through the surges flew
But ever and anon
A murmur of farewell
Told by its plaintive tone,
That from woman's lip it fell.

" Away, away, o'er the foaming main! "
— This was the free and the joyous strain —
" There are clearer skies than ours, afar,
We will shape our course by a brighter star;
There are plains whose verdure no foot hath press'd,
And whose wealth is all for the first brave guest. "
" But alas! that we should go, "
— Sang the farewell voices then —
" From the homesteads, warm and low,
By the brook and in the glen! "

" We will rear new homes under trees that glow
As if gems were fruitage of every bough;
O'er our white walls we will train the vine,
And sit in its shadow at day's decline;
And watch our herds, as they range at will
Through the green savannas, all bright and still. "
" But woe for that sweet shade
Of the flowering orchard trees,
Where first our children play'd
'Midst the birds and honey bees. "

" All, all our own shall the forests be,
As to the bound of the roebuck free!
None shall say, " Hither, no further pass!"
We will track each step through the wavy grass;
We will chase the elk in his speed and might,
And bring proud spoils to the hearth at night. "
" But oh! the grey church tower,
And the sound of Sabbath bell,
And the shelter'd garden bower, —
We have bid them all farewell! "

" We will give the names of our fearless race
To each bright river whose course we trace;
And will leave our mem'ry with mounts and floods,
And the path of our daring in boundless woods!
And our works unto many a lake's green shore,
Where the Indian graves lay, alone, before. "
" But who shall teach the flowers,
Which our children loved, to dwell
In a soil that is not ours?
— Home, home and friends, farewell! "