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Home  »  The Poetical Works In Four Volumes  »  Lines on Leaving Appledore

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892). The Poetical Works in Four Volumes. 1892.

Appendix II. Poems Printed in the ‘Life of Whittier’

Lines on Leaving Appledore

[Sent in a letter to Celia Thaxter.]

UNDER the shadow of a cloud, the light

Died out upon the waters, like a smile

Chased from a face by grief. Following the flight

Of a lone bird that, scudding with the breeze,

Dipped its crank wing in leaden-colored seas,

I saw in sunshine lifted, clear and bright,

On the horizon’s rim the Fortunate Isle

That claims thee as its fair inhabitant,

And glad of heart I whispered, “Be to her,

Bird of the summer sea, my messenger;

Tell her, if Heaven a fervent prayer will grant,

This light that falls her island home above,

Making its slopes of rock and greenness gay,

A partial glory midst surrounding gray,

Shall prove an earnest of our Father’s love,

More and more shining to the perfect day.”