Saturday, August 1, 2020

Perilous Times: Wisdom from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Published: 1860 - last stanza of Paul Revere’s Ride:


So through the night rode Paul Revere;

And so through the night went his cry of alarm

To every Middlesex village and farm,—

A cry of defiance, and not of fear,

A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,

And a word that shall echo forevermore!

For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,

Through all our history, to the last,

In the hour of darkness and peril and need,

The people will waken and listen to hear

The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,

And the midnight message of Paul Revere.


Published: 1850 - last stanza, Building of the Ship:


Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State! 

Sail on, O Union, strong and great! 

Humanity with all its fears, 

With all the hopes of future years, 

Is hanging breathless on thy fate! 

We know what Master laid thy keel, 

What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel, 

Who made each mast, and sail, and rope, 

What anvils rang, what hammers beat, 

In what a forge and what a heat 

Were shaped the anchors of thy hope! 

Fear not each sudden sound and shock, 

'T is of the wave and not the rock; 

'T is but the flapping of the sail, 

And not a rent made by the gale! 

In spite of rock and tempest's roar, 

In spite of false lights on the shore, 

Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea! 

Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee, 

Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, 

Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, 

Are all with thee, — are all with thee! 


Published: 1855, excerpt from The Song of Hiawatha:


   "O my children! my poor children!

Listen to the words of wisdom, 

Listen to the words of warning,

From the lips of the Great Spirit,

From the Master of Life, who made you!

   "I have given you lands to hunt in,

I have given you streams to fish in, 

I have given you bear and bison,

I have given you roe and reindeer,

I have given you brant and beaver,

Filled the marshes full of wild fowl,

Filled the rivers full of fishes; 

Why then are you not contented?

Why then will you hunt each other?

   "I am weary of your quarrels,

Weary of your wars and bloodshed,

Weary of your prayers for vengeance, 

Of your wranglings and dissensions;

All your strength is in your union,

All your danger is in discord;

Therefore be at peace henceforward,

And as brothers live together. 

   "I will send a Prophet to you,

A Deliverer of the nations,

Who shall guide you and shall teach you,

Who shall toil and suffer with you.

If you listen to his counsels, 

You will multiply and prosper;

If his warnings pass unheeded,

You will fade away and perish!


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