Sweet are these kisses of the South, <br />As dropped from woman's rosiest mouth, <br />And tenderer are those azure skies <br />Than this world's tenderest pair of eyes! <br /> <br />But ah! beneath such influence <br />Thought is too often lost in Sense; <br />And Action, faltering as we thrill, <br />Sinks in the unnerved arms of Will. <br /> <br />Awake, thou stormy North, and blast <br />The subtle spells around us cast; <br />Beat from our limbs these flowery chains <br />With the sharp scourges of thy rains! <br /> <br />Bring with thee from thy Polar cave <br />All the wild songs of wind and wave, <br />Of toppling berg and grinding floe, <br />And the dread avalanche of snow! <br /> <br />Wrap us in Arctic night and clouds! <br />Yell like a fiend amid the shrouds <br />Of some slow-sinking vessel, when <br />He hears the shrieks of drowning men! <br /> <br />Blend in thy mighty voice whate'er <br />Of danger, terror, and despair <br />Thou hast encountered in thy sweep <br />Across the land and o'er the deep. <br /> <br />Pour in our ears all notes of woe, <br />That, as these very moments flow, <br />Rise like a harsh discordant psalm, <br />While we lie here in tropic calm. <br /> <br />Sting our weak hearts with bitter shame, <br />Bear us along with thee like flame; <br />And prove that even to destroy <br />More God-like may be than to toy <br />And rust or rot in idle joy!<br /><br />Henry Timrod<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/storm-and-calm/
