The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-03-28
A Silent CITY.

When the winds are still and the sky is
clear,
And night drops over earth,
And the bat fits by and you do not hear
His velvet wings beat on the air;
It's then lose my mirth,
And think of vale in the North
Where a city lies Of an unknown birth.
A city lies through the long, long night
And the days gray twilight, too
With naught to disturb but the Boreal light
When it fills the North with it's gold and
white,
Playing among the blue.
And we, and that, and the skies that frown,
And the clouds alone know of this town.
1 saw it once in the days gone by,
When /, with dozen more.
Was wrecked on Williams coast to die,
We thought. but Heaven heard our cry
Along that frozen shore.
They led US southwark to our own
And our thanks went UP to the Fathers
throne.
We were toiling along one bleak, chill day
Ger the fields of ice and snow,
'AIong hills where guIlies would cross our
way,
When we came to a long, steep hill that
lay
Cross the way we had to go;
a rugged ridge. that, on either hand,
Ran about mile Ger the icy land.
We halted moment, then up we went,
Climbing it's rugged side;
Beneath our packs we slipped and bent.
And the best of all was well-nigh spent
When we reached its outlook wide.
Where back We could see the road We
come
And ahead the one some nearer home.
As they reached the top each stood as in
death
/ was among the last.
And l wondered much had they lost all
breath
or did they behold Aurora's wreath.
They stood in amazement fast;
But reached the top and-I acted. too,
In the manner l saw the others do,
For there was another ridge ahead.
And the one on which We stood
Was part of a circle, and instead
OF stretch of snow in the valleys bed
Was a city fair and good!
And its spires and domes were everywhere
Piercing the valleys chilly air.
There were castles fair, like those in
Spain
We build with dreamy eyes;
And palaces rich with golden stain
Like ribbons of darker dyes.
And each of the spires of golden light
In snow was crowned with a wreath Of
white
And over it all such a stiffness vast.
Horrid and heavy lay
Not a breath from below was upward cast.
Not a single vapor fioated past
To the outer silent day;
And we. on the nights above. looked down
And trembled with fear this silent town.
And away on the farthest side there arose
A light of the deepest blue.
And Ger the place like a wave it goes.
Round tower and splre 1t waivers and flows
And all are of the hue;
And there is tint OF CHASTITY green
And the golden light again is seen.
And now comes over us such a fear
As we neer before had known.
We thought OF our home-of an icy bier
And we gasped in the ghostly atmosphere
And choked I'm the frigid zone.
And standing still that ice hill's head
The fear in our heart was turned TO dread.
A dread of the long. dark Arctic night,
OF the iceberg's binding glare,
OF the long snow fields that dim the sight
OF the ghost-like Aurora-ha uniting light
And the emptiness everywhere;
And climbing down We left the hill
With a haunted brain and a broken will.
We saw no home for weary time
But at last we reached the end
And my mind still runs in hellish rhyme
on quiet nights to that wind-swept CLINE
With its silent city. and
If ever a man is haunted tits l.
With that cursed place and its mystery.
L. J.