John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892). The Poetical Works in Four Volumes. 1892.
Personal PoemsA Welcome to Lowell
T
Our hearts are all thy own;
To-day we bid thee welcome
Not for ourselves alone.
Some of us have grown old,
And some have passed the portals
Of the Mystery untold;
For the voices that are dumb,
For each and all I bid thee
A grateful welcome home!
To the nine-fold Muses dear;
For the Seer the winding Concord
Paused by his door to hear;
Who the march of song began,
The white locks of his ninety years
Bared to thy winds, Cape Ann!
Her pines and hemlocks played,
Set the old and tender story
Of the lorn Acadian maid;
Swayed friend and foe at will,
Hushed is the tongue of silver,
The golden lips are still!
At scoff and menace smiled,
Brave as the wife of Roland,
Yet gentle as a Child.
Shall hold in memory long,
Whose name is the hint and token
Of the pleasant Fields of Song!
For the young thou hast not known,
I speak their heart-warm greeting;
Come back and take thy own!
And honors fitly paid,
Come back, dear Russell Lowell,
To Elmwood’s waiting shade!
That crown of right thy head.
I speak for comrades living,
I speak for comrades dead!
A