Personal Poems I: Part 1 from Volume IV of The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier — John Shaqi
Personal Poems I: Part 1 from Volume IV of The Works of John Greenleaf WhittierWhittier, John Greenleaf
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Personal Poems I: Part 1 from Volume IV of The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier
Whittier, John Greenleaf
American poetry -- 19th century
Farewell! A little time, and we
Who knew thee well, and loved thee here,
One after one shall follow thee
As pilgrims through the gate of fear,
Which opens on eternity.
Yet shall we cherish not the less
All that is left our hearts meanwhile;
The memory of thy loveliness
Shall round our weary pathway smile,
Like moonlight when the sun has set,
A sweet and tender radiance yet.
Thoughts of thy clear-eyed sense of duty,
Thy generous scorn of all things wrong,
The truth, the strength, the graceful beauty
Which blended in thy song.
All lovely things, by thee beloved,
Shall whisper to our hearts of thee;
These green hills, where thy childhood roved,
Yon river winding to the sea,
The sunset light of autumn eves
Reflecting on the deep, still floods,
Cloud, crimson sky, and trembling leaves
Of rainbow-tinted woods,
These, in our view, shall henceforth take
A tenderer meaning for thy sake;
And all thou lovedst of earth and sky,
Seem sacred to thy memory.
1841.
FOLLEN.
ON READING HIS ESSAY ON THE "FUTURE STATE."
Charles Follen, one of the noblest contributions of Germany to
American citizenship, was at an early age driven from his
professorship in the University of Jena, and compelled to seek
shelter from official prosecution in Switzerland, on account of his
liberal political opinions. He became Professor of Civil Law in the
University of Basle. The governments of Prussia, Austria, and
Russia united in demanding his delivery as a political offender;
and, in consequence, he left Switzerland, and came to the United
States. At the time of the formation of the American Anti-Slavery
Society he was a Professor in Harvard University, honored for his
genius, learning, and estimable character. His love of liberty and
hatred of oppression led him to seek an interview with Garrison and
express his sympathy with him. Soon after, he attended a meeting of
the New England Anti-Slavery Society. An able speech was made by
Rev. A. A. Phelps, and a letter of mine addressed to the Secretary
of the Society was read. Whereupon he rose and stated that his
views were in unison with those of the Society, and that after
hearing the speech and the letter, he was ready to join it, and
abide the probable consequences of such an unpopular act. He lost
by so doing his professorship. He was an able member of the
Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society. He
perished in the ill-fated steamer Lexington, which was burned on
its passage from New York, January 13, 1840. The few writings left
behind him show him to have been a profound thinker of rare
spiritual insight.
Friend of my soul! as with moist eye
I look up from this page of thine,
Is it a dream that thou art nigh,
Thy mild face gazing into mine?
That presence seems before me now,
A placid heaven of sweet moonrise,
When, dew-like, on the earth below
Descends the quiet of the skies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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