Remembrance Of A Summer Night

"Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for a light by day

and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for a light by night,

Who stirs up the sea's roaring billows and stills the waves

when they roar-the Lord of hosts is His name."

Jeremiah 31:55

 Smoky Mountain Full Moon rising over New Found Gap on the Tennessee-North Carolina border

Photograph taken by Tim Meredith

(2011)

The evening's air breathed softly o'er

A silent spot in the midst of sylvan scene,

Where, bounded by a flow'ry shore,

A cool, fresh lakelet spread its polished sheen,

Alone, with book of ancient lore

I patient sat and mused on what hath been.

The shadows of the mossy pine,

That o'er the quiet depths in silence fell,

Seemed like some spirit's wind divine,

Which, hovering there, shed round a holy spell;

And while I read each storied line,

It seemed within my heart of hearts to dwell.

With noiseless steps the moments came,

And still unheard they went, the softened light

In mellow rays fell o'er each name

Renowned, a heavenly tribute rich and bright,

Still o'er the records grand of fame

I looked, nor marked the soft approach of Night.

She came unheralded by sound,

And stole upon me like a dream, the leaves

Grew dim, and when I gazed around,

Behold! the mystic curtain that she weaves

To hide from day her silent bound,

Hung far away to where Old Ocean heaves.

Where wing'd imagination roams

On high the moon in saint-like beauty rose,

And in their pure ethereal domes

The kingly stars sat throned in grand repose-

As calm those worlds as might the homes

Of angels be, where love immortal grows.

Wrapt "in the mantle of the dark,"

Against an aged tree my form I leant,

And gazed upon each shining mark

That night had placed upon her steep ascent,

From fitful flash of meteor spark

To worlds beneath whose weight in heavens are bent.

So deep the quiet of the spot

So broad the mystery of silence spread,

It seemed that from my earthly lot

I rose to mingle with the mighty dead,

Whose steadfast thrones time reaches not,

And round whose brows eternal light is shed.

Far borne into the midst of space,

Methought I heard the wheels of ages roll,

And whisperings of another race

Whose language seemed familiar to my soul;

And beauteous night from this high place

Far spread her broad, illuminated scroll.

Upon that mighty page unrolled

I read, bright syllabled in blazing spheres,

What science hath but feebly told

In all the wisdom of her garnered years;

For science halts, where strong and bold

Imagination soars, and scorns all fears.

Sad seemed the star-typed record there,

Where, through the blinding mists and tearful gloom,

All dimly burned our world so fair,

Our wondrous world of sorrow, sin and doom!

In sable stoled-and grim despair

Sat on her brow as raven on a tomb.

Pale thoughts around her, like a host

Of thronging shadows, veiled her sorrowing head-

Remembrance of her Eden lost,

The guiltless blood upon her bosom shed,

Her generations that were dust,

Her millions that were yet to join the dead!

Mid all the congregated lights

That pendant in the silver concave shone,

Of crowned with fire the golden heights

That rose like altars to a GOD UNKNOWN,

Her light was saddest, and the night's

Slow tears that fell seemed wept for her alone.

Mid all the princely orbs, that bowed,

In mute obesiance to their Monarch sun,

Or, with his primal force endowed,

In paths of circling glory round him run;

Mid all the constellated crowd

Thick strewn by Him, the wonder-working ONE.

Upon His world-creating path,

'Twas strange, methought, this beauteous earth alone

Should thus draw down selected wrath,

And in her heart of fire for ages groan,

That here alone should sorrow scathe,

And mouldy Death erect his ghastly throne!

But higher yet I seemed to soar

And pierced the visual dome in upward flight,

As if through angel-oped door

Has passed a soul untombed from the vaulted night,

And stood where ne'er it stood before

In lowly worship of the new-born light.

'Twas glorious thus in dreams to tread

The supra mortal realms-abodes were none

Earth-born can enter, save the dead-

Who mate with essence the living shun;

Those beautiful, pale forms of dread

The gifted see, ere their brief day is done.

'Twas thus my soul did wander far,

The finite in the infinite, and wild

With ecstasy, from star to star,

And from the constellations vast upplied

On pillared worlds (that pendant are)

To orbic systems, vaster still, which smiled.

In rays eternal from a height

Of heights immeasurable, did climb! And still

Did climb the upward maze of light,

As if despite the interdicting will

That quelled the Babel-builders' might

'T would reach where sat the enthroned INVISIBLE!

Thus on that summer's night I dreamed,

Till half the stars went down, and to my tent

Retired; but every orb that beamed

Upon the lonely watches I had spent,

Was in my soul ensphered, and gleamed

Above my sleep a pictured firmament!

 The Milky Way over Mt. Shasta and Mt. Shastina

Siskiyou County California

Photograph taken by Deborah M. Zajac

(2017)

"Remembrance Of A Summer Night"

John Rollin Ridge

1827-1867

Also known as Cheesquatalawny and Yellow Bird

   Poet of the Cherokee Nation