"Those opposed eyes, Which, like the meteors of a troubled heaven, Shall now, in mutual, well-beseeming ranks THE ARSENAL AT SPRINGFIELD LONGFELLOW This is the Arsenal. From floor to ceiling, Ah! what a sound will rise, how wild and dreary, When the death angel touches those swift keys! What loud lament and dismal Miserere Will mingle with their awful symphonies! I hear even now the infinite fierce chorus, On helm and harness rings the Saxon hammer, Through Cimbric forest roars the Norseman's song, And loud, amid the universal clamor, O'er distant deserts sounds the Tartar gong. I hear the Florentine, who from his palace Beat the wild war drums made of serpent's skin; The tumult of each sacked and burning village; The shout that every prayer for mercy drowns; The soldiers' revels in the midst of pillage; The wail of famine in beleaguered towns; The bursting shell, the gateway wrenched asunder, Is it, O man, with such discordant noises Were half the power, that fills the world with terror, Were half the wealth, bestowed on camps and courts, Given to redeem the human mind from error, There were no need of arsenals or forts: The warrior's name would be a name abhorréd! Down the dark future, through long generations, I hear once more the voice of Christ say, "Peace!" Peace and no longer from its brazen portals The holy melodies of love arise. Bailey, J. M. Browning, Robert. "How they brought the Good Bryant, W. C. Thanatopsis, 174. To a Waterfowl, 178. Richelieu's Vindication, 86. Burdette, R. J. The Gray Day, 142. Burns, Robert. Flow Gently, Sweet Afton, 167. Byron. Ambition, 143. Apostrophe to the Ocean, 364. Exhortation to the Greeks, 366. Waterloo, 366. Calhoun, John C. Liberty and Intelligence, 371. Campbell, Thomas. Hohenlinden, 60. Await the Issue, 34. Carlyle, Thomas. Nature a Hard Creditor, 425. Calling a Boy in the Morning, Castelar, Emilio. Tribute to Lincoln, 412. Speech on the American War, 338. Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Oration against Catiline, 241. Clay, Henry. My Ambition, 117. Sympathy with the Greeks, 366. Clemens, S. C. (Mark Twain.) |