A MEDITATION ON RHODE ISLAND COAL

Decolor, obscurus, vilis, non ille repexam

Cesariem regum, non candida virginis ornat

Colla, nec insigni splendet per cingula morsu

Sed nova si nigri videas miracula saxi,

Tune superat pulchros cultus et quicquid Eois

Indus litoribus rubra scrutatur in alga. CLAUDIAN

I sat beside the glowing grate, fresh heaped

With Newport coal, and as the flame grew bright

-The many-colored flame- and played and leaped,

I thought of rainbows, and the northern light,

Moore’s Lalla Rookh, the Treasury Report,

And other brilliant matters of the sort.

And last I thought of that fair isle which sent

The mineral fuel; on a summer day

I saw it once, with heat and travel spent,

And scratched by dwarf-oaks in the hollow way.

Now dragged through sand, now jolted over stone-

A rugged road through rugged Tiverton.

And hotter grew the air, and hollower grew

The deep-worn path, and horror-struck, I thought,

Where will this dreary passage lead me to?

This long dull road, so narrow, deep, and hot?

I looked to see it dive in earth outright;

I looked- but saw a far more welcome sight.

Like a soft mist upon the evening shore,

At once a lovely isle before me lay,

Smooth, and with tender verdure covered o’er,

As if just risen from its calm inland bay;

Sloped each way gently to the grassy edge,

And the small waves that dallied with the sedge.

The barley was just reaped; the heavy sheaves

Lay on the stubble-field; the tall maize stood

Dark in its summer growth, and shook its leaves,

And bright the sunlight played on the young wood-

For fifty years ago, the old men say,

The Briton hewed their ancient groves away.

I saw where fountains freshened the green land,

And where the pleasant road, from door to door,

With rows of cherry-trees on either hand,

Went wandering all that fertile region o’er-

Rogue’s Island once- but when the rogues were dead,

Rhode Island was the name it took instead.

Beautiful island! then it only seemed

A lovely stranger; it has grown a friend.

I gazed on its smooth slopes, but never dreamed

How soon that green and quiet isle would send

The treasures of its womb across the sea,

To warm a poet’s room and boil his tea.

Dark anthracite! that reddenest on my hearth,

Thou in those island mines didst slumber long;

But now thou art come forth to move the earth,

And put to shame the men that mean thee wrong:

Thou shalt be coals of fire to those that hate thee,

And warm the shins of all that underrate thee.

Yea, they did wrong thee foully- they who mocked

Thy honest face, and said thou wouldst not burn;

Of hewing thee to chimney-pieces talked,

And grew profane, and swore, in bitter scorn,

That men might to thy inner caves retire,

And there, unsinged, abide the day of fire.

Yet is thy greatness nigh. I pause to state,

That I too have seen greatness- even I-

Shook hands with Adams, stared at La Fayette,

When, barehead, in the hot noon of July,

He would not let the umbrella be held o’er him,

For which three cheers burst from the mob before him.

And I have seen- not many months ago-

An eastern Governor in chapeau bras

And military coat, a glorious show!

Ride forth to visit the reviews, and ah!

How oft he smiled and bowed to Jonathan!

How many hands were shook and votes were won!

’Twas a great Governor; thou too shalt be

Great in thy turn, and wide shall spread thy fame

And swiftly; furthest Maine shall hear of thee,

And cold New Brunswick gladden at thy name;

And, faintly through its sleets, the weeping isle

That sends the Boston folks their cod shall smile.

For thou shalt forge vast railways, and shalt heat

The hissing rivers into steam, and drive

Huge masses from thy mines, on iron feet,

Walking their steady way, as if alive,

Northward, till everlasting ice besets thee,

And South as far as the grim Spaniard lets thee.

Thou shalt make mighty engines swim the sea,

Like its own monsters- boats that for a guinea

Will take a man to Havre- and shalt be

The moving soul of many a spinning-jenny,

And ply thy shuttles, till a bard can wear

As good a suit of broadcloth as the mayor.

Then we will laugh at winter when we hear

The grim old churl about our dwellings rave:

Thou, from that "ruler of the inverted year,"

Shalt pluck the knotty sceptre Cowper gave,

And pull him from his sledge, and drag him in,

And melt the icicles from off his chin.