And the night-wind rising, hark! 
How above there in the dark,
  In the midnight and the snow,
Ever wilder, fiercer, grander,
Like the trumpets of Iskander,
  All the noisy chimneys blow!

Every quivering tongue of flame
Seems to murmur some great name,
  Seems to say to me, “Aspire!”
But the night-wind answers, “Hollow
Are the visions that you follow,
  Into darkness sinks your fire!”

Then the flicker of the blaze
Gleams on volumes of old days,
  Written by masters of the art,
Loud through whose majestic pages
Rolls the melody of ages,
  Throb the harp-strings of the heart.

And again the tongues of flame
Start exulting and exclaim: 
  “These are prophets, bards, and seers;
In the horoscope of nations,
Like ascendant constellations,
  They control the coming years.”

But the night-wind cries:  “Despair! 
Those who walk with feet of air
  Leave no long-enduring marks;
At God’s forges incandescent
Mighty hammers beat incessant,
  These are but the flying sparks.

“Dust are all the hands that wrought;
Books are sepulchres of thought;
  The dead laurels of the dead
Rustle for a moment only,
Like the withered leaves in lonely
  Churchyards at some passing tread.”

Suddenly the flame sinks down;
Sink the rumors of renown;
  And alone the night-wind drear
Clamors louder, wilder, vaguer,—­
“’T is the brand of Meleager
  Dying on the hearth-stone here!”

And I answer,—­“Though it be,
Why should that discomfort me? 
  No endeavor is in vain;
Its reward is in the doing,
And the rapture of pursuing
  Is the prize the vanquished gain.”

THE BELLS OF LYNN

HEARD AT NAHANT

O curfew of the setting sun!  O Bells of Lynn! 
O requiem of the dying day!  O Bells of Lynn!

From the dark belfries of yon cloud-cathedral wafted,
Your sounds aerial seem to float, O Bells of Lynn!

Borne on the evening wind across the crimson twilight,
O’er land and sea they rise and fall, O Bells of Lynn!

The fisherman in his boat, far out beyond the headland,
Listens, and leisurely rows ashore, O Bells of Lynn!

Over the shining sands the wandering cattle homeward
Follow each other at your call, O Bells of Lynn!

The distant lighthouse hears, and with his flaming signal
Answers you, passing the watchword on, O Bells of Lynn!

And down the darkening coast run the tumultuous surges,
And clap their hands, and shout to you, O Bells of Lynn!

Till from the shuddering sea, with your wild incantations,
Ye summon up the spectral moon, O Bells of Lynn!

And startled at the sight like the weird woman of Endor,
Ye cry aloud, and then are still, O Bells of Lynn!