Among our hills and valleys, I have known Wise and grave men, who, while their diligent hands Tended or gathered in the fruits of earth, Were reverent learners in the solemn school...
I saw an aged man upon his bier, His hair was thin and white, and on his brow A record of the cares of many a year; Cares that were ended and forgotten now. And there was sadness round, and faces bowed,...
The summer morn is bright and fresh, the birds are darting by, As if they loved to breast the breeze that sweeps the cool clear sky; Young Albert, in the forest's edge, has heard a rustling sound,...
Oh silvery streamlet of the fields, That flowest full and free! For thee the rains of spring return, The summer dews for thee; And when thy latest blossoms die In autumn's chilly showers,...
Thine eyes shall see the light of distant skies: Yet, COLE! thy heart shall bear to Europe's strand A living image of thy native land, Such as on thine own glorious canvas lies;...
When the firmament quivers with daylight's young beam, And the woodlands awaking burst into a hymn, And the glow of the sky blazes back from the stream, How the bright ones of heaven in the brightness grow dim....
Chains may subdue the feeble spirit, but thee, Tell, of the iron heart! they could not tame! For thou wert of the mountains; they proclaim The everlasting creed of liberty....