Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1878-08-20
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POETRY.. r.


For the SPECTATOR.
DAY ON KINGS HILL, NEAR GRERNvILLE, VA.
band Of white and ruddy light lies low
Along the East that redder grows till see!
The suns bright disk appears above the crest
OF ancient and immovable Blueridge. 4'
The dew is on the leaves of huge old trees
And wiiding flowers that spring and blossom
here
l hear the breeze among the rustlinS boughs,
Where birds pour forth their early prisons; 8
The cascade leaps from crags to glens below;
The voice of labor sounds upon the morn.
faF back in time tpe lcean.c gtraasn
Washed out this Valley from the rocks that
grid y
Its wooded borders, till the unclaimed force
Of fsubterranean gases threw it high,
And the sloping waters sought the loweTmain,
The Yellsy smiled in sunlight fresh and green.
Srara emerald grass, gfeei shrubs. aad tinted
flowers. sH
garden rich of soil and pure Of air. s4
Watered by sparkling, never-fsiling springs
transparent running streams, and river floods,
Thatrolled to the Atlantic's ready ports,
Anxious to bear the fruitage OF this land,
TO swell Ehe busy commerce Of the warla. p
Lay substances that arm weak men to wrench
Convenience and delight from Natures grasp,
Irons, Goals, man ganese, smooth marble grained
Like those of Italy the sculptor takes
To embody and sransfuse his thought divine.
One knoys not when more kindly Nature
rsaoHght, -
In giving gensreus ioam on mineral heaps,
Like those Aladdin sASwsss by magic lamp,
In caves al. & BEES NJ nazgsex Il nneetone rock
Then nations leaving us Nc record dwelt
And fed upon its fatness, till the Indian came
And dispossessed them; last the Englishman
Became it's owner adding to its wealth
The rare efapeliiis shHseT and GRACE of Art
The mighty Appalachi ans, Atlss-like,
Upon their shoulders vast upbear the skies
They thunder to the inhabitants below
A Cause oinnipotent, supreme divine.
For He created this magnifcence.
No where God leaves Him without witnesses,
The tiniest atom is instinct with praise
But most He sfeaks frona skyyara Enognfaein,
forms, ts IS
Or wide expanses, unto listening man, f.s
The forms that tell His majesty and power.
Old seers, Jesus self, sought highest peaks
In rapt communion with Creative Love.
And rs the pallid valetudinarian feels 4s4
His pains departing, while he hastens hers,
The mountains also purify the soul. AA.
Here let me rest upon this messy rock
And gaze and muse upon this goodly land.
The clouds that shadowed Soils bright brows at
morn
Have vanished and Blueridge stands singly
forth
Amid the unobstructed glare of noon,
A canopy of molten, seething fire.
The eye dares not its fatal brightness, till
Light wreaths of silvery vapor, woven fast
Along the West, ascend, and spread, and float,
On noiseless wings, and hide the torrid beams:
At length storm of awful, lurid hue
Flashes out flame, and uttering direful sound,
Borne East by fierce impetuous gales. shuts out
The view, and down the copious torrents dash
And overflow the dikes and bridges. seize
The helpless, staring farmers ripened toll
And sweep it to destruction,-See!
IT'S passed, and there a rainbow smiles
All cOlOrs that the eye OF man delights,
Above this Valley of Virginia fair.
So civil wars dark tempest swept it late;
But now 1t laughs, as ii no storm had been.
In waking trance, see the future power
OF this now famous Valley-nen
In number like the mighty stars OF sands. 4
Have filed it-all it's wealth has been explored,
Its face enriched and heautified beyond
The stretch OF faney-and It's voice com.nands
The mart, and holds golden magic key
To ope or shut the gates of trade-to give
Or life or death for God has ordered SO
His sovereign purposes-where plenty smiles
The world shall ever turn its subject gaze.
Great cities, thronged with merchant princes,
now
Have risen, and the kings of earth delight
To come and linger here as Israel's bard,
Who sat on sacred Zlon's lofty top,
They sing high hymns to Him vino formed ti.is
vale. -3
For me have been happy viewingi it;
And it will come to me in after Dreams
A thought of beauty, neer to be effaced
]. A. 3.