Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1874-05-29
Poetry.
The Ride OF Collins Graves.
An Incident of the Flood in Massachusetts, May 16
1874.


No tong Of soldier riding down
To the raging fight from Winchester town;
No song Of a time that shook the earth
with the nations thioe at a nations birth;
But the song Of a brave man free from fear
As shendan's self or Paul Rovcrc
Who risked what they riskcd, free from strife
Aud its promise Of glorious pay-his life.
The peaceful valley has walked and stirred
And the answering echoes Of life are heard;
The dew still cngs TO the trees and grass,
And tho early toilers smiling pass,
As they glance aside at the white-walled homes
Or up the valley, where merrily comes
The lrook that sparkles in diamond rills
As the sun comes over the Hampshire hills
What was it that Passed like an ominous breath,
Like shiycr Of fear or touch Of death?
What was it7 The valley Is peaceful STILL
And the leaves are ahre on top Of the hill.
1t was not sound, nor a thing Of sense,
But pain, like pang Of the short suspense
That wraps the being Of those who
At their feet the gulf Of eternity!
The air Of the valley has felt the chilli
The workers pause ut the door of the mill
The hcusewife, Keen to the shiyering air,
Arrests her foot on the cottage stair,
lrstinctiycly taught by the mother-loye
ANA THINKS CT the sleeping ones above!
Why start the listeners? Why docs the course
or the mill-strcam widcn7 Is IL horse?
Hark to the sound Of his hoofs, they say,
That gaops so wildly Williamsburg way2
God! What was that, like a human shrick
From the winding valley? VIII nobody speak?
VIII nobody answer those women who cry
As the awful warning thunder by?
Whence come they? Listen! And now they hear
The sound of the galloping lorse-hoofs near;
They watc the trend Of the vale, and zee
The rider, who thunders SO menhcingly,
With waving arms and warning scream
To the home-fled banks Of the valley stream.
He draws 70 rein, but he shakes the street
with shout and the ring # the galluping feet.
And this the cry that he lings TO the wind
"To the hHi' for your 'res' The food is B,hiaGg"
He cries and is gone; but they know the worst
The 'reSeherous Williamsburg dam hss bursti
The tasin that nourished their harpy homes
Is changed to a demon-It comes! It comcs!
monster in aspect, with shaggy front
OF shattered dwellings, to take the brunt
OFT dwellings they shatter; whitemaned and hosrsC
The merciless terror ellis the course
OF the narrow valley, and rushing raves
With Death on the first Of its Kissing waves,
TIL cottage and street and crowded mill
Are crumbed and crushed.
But onward stin,
In front of the roaring lcad is heard
The gallorng horse and the warning word.
Thank God that the brave mans life is spared!
From Williamsburg town he robly dared
To race with the hood and to take the road
In front Of the terrible swath it moved.
For miles it thundered and crashed behind,
But he locked ahead with steAdfas; mind;
"They must be WGTnsd :" was all he said,
As away on his terrible ride he sped.
When heroc5 are called for, bring the crown
To this Yankee rider: ttnd him down
on the stream Of time with the Curtius old;
His deed as the r. mans brave and bold
Ard the tale noble a thrill awake,
For he oGercd his life for the ptople's sake
-BOSfOH Piot.