Page:The college beautiful, and other poems.djvu/62

Knew full many a thorn-set passage where they fainted as they trod,
When the brooding sunset light flooded every vale and height,
All the way seemed golden bright, in the constant smile of God.

And my grandsire, looking back o'er the long, illumined track,
Counting fifty years like jewels in his mar- riage diadem,
Stooped anew to kiss the brows of his worn and withered spouse,
Calling all his scattered house to return and feast with them.

Straight we flocked from east and west back to the forsaken nest,
Some w r ith storm-beat crests ; and others graced by gentle, dove-like ways ;
Eagle hearts and pinions strong ; twilight voices sweet of song,
And the twittering broods that throng on the leafy summer sprays.

From the north and south we came, all the children of his name,
Blown like autumn leaves together homeward to the parent tree,