The Poems Of Henry Timrod Part 21

Carolina

I

The despot treads thy sacred sands, Thy pines give shelter to his bands, Thy sons stand by with idle hands, Carolina!

He breathes at ease thy airs of balm, He scorns the lances of thy palm; Oh! who shall break thy craven calm, Carolina!

Thy ancient fame is growing dim, A spot is on thy garment's rim; Give to the winds thy battle hymn, Carolina!

II

Call on thy children of the hill, Wake swamp and river, coast and rill, Rouse all thy strength and all thy skill, Carolina!

Cite wealth and science, trade and art, Touch with thy fire the cautious mart, And pour thee through the people's heart, Carolina!

Till even the coward spurns his fears, And all thy fields and fens and meres Shall bristle like thy palm with spears, Carolina!

III

Hold up the glories of thy dead; Say how thy elder children bled, And point to Eutaw's battle-bed, Carolina!

Tell how the patriot's soul was tried, And what his dauntless breast defied; How Rutledge ruled and Laurens died, Carolina!

Cry! till thy summons, heard at last, Shall fall like Marion's bugle-blast Re-echoed from the haunted Past, Carolina!

IV

I hear a murmur as of waves That grope their way through sunless caves, Like bodies struggling in their graves, Carolina!

And now it deepens; slow and grand It swells, as, rolling to the land, An ocean broke upon thy strand, Carolina!

Shout! let it reach the startled Huns!

And roar with all thy festal guns!

It is the answer of thy sons, Carolina!

V

They will not wait to hear thee call; From Sachem's Head to Sumter's wall Resounds the voice of hut and hall, Carolina!

No! thou hast not a stain, they say, Or none save what the battle-day Shall wash in seas of blood away, Carolina!

Thy skirts indeed the foe may part, Thy robe be pierced with sword and dart, They shall not touch thy n.o.ble heart, Carolina!

VI

Ere thou shalt own the tyrant's thrall Ten times ten thousand men must fall; Thy corpse may hearken to his call, Carolina!

When, by thy bier, in mournful throngs The women chant thy mortal wrongs, 'T will be their own funereal songs, Carolina!

From thy dead breast by ruffians trod No helpless child shall look to G.o.d; All shall be safe beneath thy sod, Carolina!

VII

Girt with such wills to do and bear, a.s.sured in right, and mailed in prayer, Thou wilt not bow thee to despair, Carolina!

Throw thy bold banner to the breeze!

Front with thy ranks the threatening seas Like thine own proud armorial trees, Carolina!

Fling down thy gauntlet to the Huns, And roar the challenge from thy guns; Then leave the future to thy sons, Carolina!

A Cry to Arms

Ho! woodsmen of the mountain side!

Ho! dwellers in the vales!

Ho! ye who by the chafing tide Have roughened in the gales!

Leave barn and byre, leave kin and cot, Lay by the bloodless spade; Let desk, and case, and counter rot, And burn your books of trade.

The despot roves your fairest lands; And till he flies or fears, Your fields must grow but armed bands, Your sheaves be sheaves of spears!

Give up to mildew and to rust The useless tools of gain; And feed your country's sacred dust With floods of crimson rain!

Come, with the weapons at your call-- With musket, pike, or knife; He wields the deadliest blade of all Who lightest holds his life.

The arm that drives its unbought blows With all a patriot's scorn, Might brain a tyrant with a rose, Or stab him with a thorn.

Does any falter? let him turn To some brave maiden's eyes, And catch the holy fires that burn In those sublunar skies.

Oh! could you like your women feel, And in their spirit march, A day might see your lines of steel Beneath the victor's arch.

What hope, O G.o.d! would not grow warm When thoughts like these give cheer?

The Lily calmly braves the storm, And shall the Palm-tree fear?

No! rather let its branches court The rack that sweeps the plain; And from the Lily's regal port Learn how to breast the strain!

Ho! woodsmen of the mountain side!

Ho! dwellers in the vales!

Ho! ye who by the roaring tide Have roughened in the gales!

Come! flocking gayly to the fight, From forest, hill, and lake; We battle for our Country's right, And for the Lily's sake!

Charleston

Calm as that second summer which precedes The first fall of the snow, In the broad sunlight of heroic deeds, The City bides the foe.

As yet, behind their ramparts stern and proud, Her bolted thunders sleep-- Dark Sumter, like a battlemented cloud, Looms o'er the solemn deep.

No Calpe frowns from lofty cliff or scar To guard the holy strand; But Moultrie holds in leash her dogs of war Above the level sand.

And down the dunes a thousand guns lie couched, Unseen, beside the flood-- Like tigers in some Orient jungle crouched That wait and watch for blood.

Meanwhile, through streets still echoing with trade, Walk grave and thoughtful men, Whose hands may one day wield the patriot's blade As lightly as the pen.

And maidens, with such eyes as would grow dim Over a bleeding hound, Seem each one to have caught the strength of him Whose sword she sadly bound.

Thus girt without and garrisoned at home, Day patient following day, Old Charleston looks from roof, and spire, and dome, Across her tranquil bay.