ODE TO THE NORTH-EAST WIND_ENGLISH POETRY

Directory:ENGLISH POETRY III

656 ODE TO THE NORTH-EAST WIND

WELCOME, wild North-easter!

Shame it is to see

Odes to every zephyr;

Ne'er a verse to thee.

Welcome, black North-easter!

O'er the German foam;

O'er the Danish moorlands,

From thy frozen home.

Tired we are of summer,

Tired of gaudy glare,

Showers soft and steaming,

Hot and breathless air.

Tired of listless dreaming,

Through the lazy day:

Jovial wind of winter

Turn us out to play!

Sweep the golden reed-beds;

Crisp the lazy dyke;

Hunger into madness

Every plunging pike.

Fill the lake with wild-fowl;

Fill the marsh with snipe;

While on dreary moorlands

Lonely curlew pipe.

Through the black fir-forest

Thunder harsh and dry,

Shattering down the snow-flakes

Off the curdled sky.

Hark! The brave North-easter!

Breast-high lies the scent,

On by holt and headland,

Over heath and bent.

Chime, ye dappled darlings,

Through the sleet and snow.

Who can over-ride you?

Let the horses go!

Chime, ye dappled darlings,

Down the roaring blast

You shall see a fox die

Ere an hour be past.

Go! and rest to-morrow,

Hunting in your dreams,

While our skates are ringing

O'er the frozen streams.

Let the luscious South-wind

Breathe in lovers' sighs,

While the lazy gallants

Bask in ladies' eyes.

What does he but soften

Heart alike and pen?

'Tis the hard grey weather

Breeds hard English men.

What's the soft South-wester?

'Tis the ladies' breeze,

Bringing home their true-loves

Out of all the seas:

But the black North-easter,

Through the snowstorm hurled,

Drives our English hearts of oak

Seaward round the world.

Come, as came our fathers,

Heralded by thee,

Conquering from the eastward,

Lords by land and sea.

Come; and strong within us

Stir the Vikings' blood;

Bracing brain and sinew;

Blow, thou wind of God!

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