BAPTISM OF FIRE
Happy birds caroling love-songs, winds in the tree-tops at play,
Earth, like an Eden, rejoicing in the beautiful gladness of May!
Earth, like an Eden, rejoicing in the beautiful gladness of May!
Over the mountains a splendor of crimson and amethyst swept:
Gray mists stole up from the valley, the dense shadows after them crept.
Gray mists stole up from the valley, the dense shadows after them crept.
Down the green aisles of the orchard, pink-white with the promise of bloom,
Stood the apple-trees, wooing already the brown bees with wealth of perfume.
Stood the apple-trees, wooing already the brown bees with wealth of perfume.
Then sounded the blast of a trumpet, like the cry of a soul in pain,
Crashing of thunder-bolts warring with the hosts of the scourging rain.
Crashing of thunder-bolts warring with the hosts of the scourging rain.
Till when the raging battalions swept on with resistless sway,
Prone in the path of the tempest the pride of the orchard lay!
Prone in the path of the tempest the pride of the orchard lay!
"O beautiful buds close folded, that never will bloom!" I cried,
"Alas for the unfulfilment, alas for the bliss denied!"
"Alas for the unfulfilment, alas for the bliss denied!"
