O'ER many a river bridged with ice, Through many a vale with snow-drifts dumb, Past quaking fen and precipice The Princes of the North are come! Lo, these are they that, year by year, Roll'd back the tide of England's war; -- Rejoice, Kinsale! thy help is near! That wondrous winter march is o'er. And thus they sang, 'To-morrow morn Our eyes shall rest upon the foe: Roll on, swift night, in silence borne, And blow, thou breeze of sunrise, blow!' Blithe as a boy on march'd the host With droning pipe and clear-voiced harp; At last above that southern coast Rang out their war-steed's whinny sharp: And up the sea-salt slopes they wound, And airs once more of ocean quaff'd; Those frosty woods, the blue wave's bound, As though May touched them waved and laugh'd. And thus they sang, 'To-morrow morn Our eyes shall rest upon our foe: Roll on, swift night, in silence borne, And blow, thou breeze of sunrise, blow!' Beside their watchfires couch'd all night Some slept, some danced, at cards some play'd, While, chanting on a central height Of moonlit crag, the priesthood pray'd: And some to sweetheart, some to wife Sent message kind; while others told Triumphant tales of recent fight, Or legends of their sires of old. And thus they sang, 'To-morrow morn Our eyes at last shall see the foe: Roll on, swift night, in silence borne, And blow, thou breeze of sunrise, blow!' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BEYOND THE POTOMAC by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE SOMETHING BEYOND by MARY CLEMMER AMES HUDSON WINTER HEAVENS by GEORGE MEREDITH THE VOYAGE OF MAELDUNE by ALFRED TENNYSON OF A FAIR LADY PLAYING WITH A SNAKE by EDMUND WALLER THE BROOK: SPRING by LAURA ABELL EMBLEMS OF LOVE: 12. LIFE FOR LOVE by PHILIP AYRES A FRAGMENT OF AN EPIC POEM, OCCASIONED BY THE LOSS OF A GAME by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD |