Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.
Preston Mills
By Ebenezer Elliott (17811849)T
Cold blew the bracing north,
And Preston’s Mills, by thousands, poured
Their little captives forth.
All glad that they were free;
And sung a song with voices sweet,—
They sung of Liberty!
Like “death-in-life” they smiled;
And still, as each passed by, I said,
Alas! is that a child?
Marched with them, side by side:
While hand in hand, and two by two,
They moved,—a living tide.
With eyes so glazed and dull!
O God! it was indeed a sight
Too sadly beautiful!
Refuses to depart!
This is a wailing for the grave,
I whispered to my heart!
A sudden blasting gale
O’er fields of bloom had rudely rushed,
And turned the roses pale.
The wild birds sadly sung;
And every linnet mourned its love,
And every thrush its young.
Where chained despair reclined,
A sound came from the living tomb,
And hymned the passing wind.
My soul groaned heavily,—
O, who would be or have a child?
A mother who would be?