Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1861-07-19
p 0et { T. y.
SONG OF THE FORGE
TFrom the New York Mirror.l

We give below the "Song of the Forge" spir
itcd nd powerful poem. Even compared L
Schiller famous "Soug Of the Bell" il remains un
surpassed. Many years ago it went the round o
the parers, starting, We believe, from BlackwoodI
Magazine. II then took Rip Van Wrinkles nap
preserved, however, in the admiring memories O
the discriminating TIL after circumnavigatng thl
81 be, it lat,y re-Bppeared in the Calcutta NJ ga
zine, whence II was copied "a original by some
American Journals Of more taste than reading. We
reprint it, to preserve it in our pages, for The
long day" as we hope.
Clang, cang the massive anyils ring
Clang, clang a hundred hammers SWING;
Like the thunder rattle of tropic sky
The mighty blows still multiply;
ClaDg, Clang
Say, brothers Of the dusky brow,
" hat are your strong arms forging now?
Clang, clang VIC forge the coulter now
The coulter of the kindly plow;
Sweet Mary, mother, bless our toll;
May its broad furrow still unbind
To genial rains, to sun and wind,
The most benignant soil.
Clang, olang-our coulter's course sha'l be
On many sweet and sheltered lea,
BY many a streamcts silver tide,
Amidst the low Of sauntering here's,
Amidst soft breezes which do stray
Through wOodbine hedges and sweet May
Along the green hills side.
When regal autumn's bounteous hand
With widespread glory clothes the land
ben to the valleys from the brow
OF each resplendent slope is rolled
ruddy sea Of living gold,
Ne bleSs-We bless the PLoN.
Clsng, clang-agaln. my mates, what glows
Beneath the hammers potent blows?
Clink, clank-we forge the GIAN7 CHAIN
Which bears th gallant vessels strain,
Midst stormy winds and adverse tides;
secured by lhis, the good ship braves
The rocky roadstead and the waves
With thu der on her sides.
Anxious no more, the merchant secs
The mist drive dark before the breeze,
The storm-coud on the hill;
Calmly he rests, though far away
In boisterous clmes his vessel lay.
Reliant skill.
say, on what sands these links shall sleep.
Fathoms beneath the solemn deep
By Afric's pestiential shore
by many an iceberg, loan and hoar-
BY many Palmy western isle
BiskiLg in springs perpetual smile
BY stormy Labrador.
say, shall they feel the vessel reel,
When to the battery deadly peal
The crushing broadside makes reply ?
Or else, as at the glorious Nile,
Hold graphing ships but strive the while
For death or victory.
Uurrab Clins-csngl once more, ,wha' giows.
Dark brothers Of the forge beneath
The iron tempest Of your blows,
The furnaces red breath?
rlang, olans-a b7rning torrent, clear
And brilliant, Of bright sparks, is poured
Around and up in the dusky air,
As our hammers forge the SWORD.
The sword "a name of dread yet when
Upon the freeman's thigh It's bound,
While for his altar and his hearth,
While for the land that gave him birth,
The sar-drums roll, the trumpet sound
How sacred is 1t then ,
Whenever for the truth and right
1t flashes in the van Of fight;
Whether in some wild mountain pass,
As that where fell Leonidas;
Or On some sterile plain and stern,
\ Narston OF a Bannockburn;
Or md fierce crags and bursting riIls,
The ewitzers' Alps, gray Tyrol's hills;
OF, as when sunk the Armada pride,
II CLEANS above the stormy tide;
still, still, whene'er the battle word
Is Libcrty-when men do stand
For justice and their native land
Then Heaven bless the SWORD