Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1874-10-16
Literary Department.
LONGFELLoW'S NEW POEM
Finy Years OF welded Life
"THE HANGING OF THE CRANE"

Fifty Years OF welded Life.
"THE HANGING or THE CRANE.
tPendrs IL cr,maiHers, to hsng the crane, is IL
French expression for hOusc-warning, or the fir
party given in a nav housed
The lights are out, aud gone arU all the guests
That thronsing came with msrrment aud jests
To celebrate the hanging of the crane
Iu the new house into tho night gone;
But etill the ire upon the hearth burns on,
And alone remain.
o fortunate, o happy dayi
when new household hnds it's place
Among the myriad homes Of earth,
Like new star just sprung to birth
Aud rolled on it's harmonious way
Into the boundless realms Of spacol
No said the guests in speech aud song,
As In the chimney, burning bright,
chung the iron crane tonight,
And merry was the feast, aud long.
And now l sit aud muse ON what may be,
And in my vision see, or seem to see,
Shapes indeterminate that CLEAN aud fade,
As shadows passing into deeper shade
Sink and elude tho sight.
For two alono, there in the hall,
Is spread the table round aud small;
Upon the polished silver shine
The evening lamps, but more divine
The light Of love shines over all;
OF love that says not thine and mine
They want no guests to come between
Their tender glanccs like screen.
And tell them tales Of land and sea,
And whatsoever may betide
The great forgotten world outside;
They want no guests; they needs must be
Each others own best company.
The picture fades; As at village fair
shovmAn's views dissolve into the air.
To reAppear transhgured on the screen,
30 in my fancy this; aud now once more
In part transhgured through the open door
Appears the ssf-sAme scene.
seated see the two again,
But not alone; they entertain
little angel unaware
with face as round as Ia the moOl;
royal guest with HAIen hair,
Who, throned upon his lofty chair,
Drums on the table with his spoon,
Then drops 1t careless ON the floor.
To grasp at things unseen before.
Are these celestial mAnnersf These
The ways that win, the arts that pleAse2
All, yes; consider well the guest,
And whatsoe'er he does best;
He ruleth by the right divine
Of helplessness, so lately born
In purple chambers Of the MORN
As sovereign over thee and thine.
He speaketh not, and yet thore lies
A conversation in his eyes;
The golden silence the Greek
Tbs gravest wisdom Of the wise,
Not spoken in language, but in looks
More legible than printed bools,
"A II he could but would not speak.
And now, o monarch Absolute,
Thy power is put to proof; for lo'
Reaistless, fAthomless and allow,
The nurse comes rustling like tho sea-
And pushes back thy chair and thee
And so goodnight to King CaHute.
As one who walking In the forest secs
A lovely landscape through the parted trees,
Then sees 1t not for bOughs that intervene,
Or AS we see the moon sometimes revealed
Through drifting clouds aud then again nc.al.d,
so beheld the scene.
There are two guests At table now;
The king deposed, and older grown,
No longer occupies the THRONE
The crown Is ON his sisters brow;
princess from the Fairy Tales,
The very pattern girl OF girls,
All covered aud embovsred in eurs,
Rose-tinted from the Iss OF Flowers,
And sailing with soft silken sails
From fAr-off DreamlAnd into
Above their bowls with rims Of blue
-Four azure eyes Of deeper hue
Are looking, dreamy with delight;
Limpid as planets that emerge
Above the oceanic rounded verge,
| Soft shining through the summer night.
SteAdfast they gaze yet nothing see
Beyond the horizon Of their bowls;
Nor care they for tho world that rolls,
with all its freight Of troubled souls
Into the days that to be.
Again the tossing bouahs shut out the scene,
| Again the drifting Vapors intervene,
And the moons pallid disk is hidden quite;
| And now see the table wider grown,
As round pebble into water thJown
| Dilates ring of light.
| see the table wider grown,
| Isee 1t garlAndUd with guests,
| As II fair AriAdne's crown
out Of the sky had fallen down;
| MAidens within whose tender breasts
| thousand restless hopes and fears,
Forth reaching to the coming years,
Flutter awhile, then quiet lie,
| Like timid birds that fain would fly,
But do not dare to leave their nests -
And youths, who in their strength elate
Challenge the and front Of fate,
lager az champions to be
In the divine knight-errantry
OF youth, that travels and land
Seeking adventures, or pursues
Through cties and through sohtudes
Frsquented by the lyric Muse,
The phantom with the beckoning hand,
That still alures and still eudes.
o sweet Illusion Of the brain
O sudden thrills Of fire and frost
The world is bright while ye remain,
| Aud dark and dead when ye are lost
The meadow brook, that seemeth to stand STILL
Quickens its current as 1t nears the mill;
And 40 the stream of time that lngereth
In level places and so duh appears,
Runs with a swifter current as 1t nears
The gloomy mills Of Death.
And now, like the magician's scroll.
That in tbs owners keeping shrinks
With every wish he speaks or thinks,
Till the last wish consumes the whole,
Ths table dwindles, and again
see the two alone remain.
The crown of stars is broken In parts
Its jewels, brighter than the day.
Have one by ono been stolen away
To shine In other homes and hearts
One is a wanderer now afar
In Ceylon or in Zanzibar,
or sunny regions of Cathay;
And one is in the bOisterous camp,
Mid clink Of arms and horses tramp,
And battles terrible array.