Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79.

New England: Cambridge, Mass.

Mount Auburn

By Isaac McLellan (1806–1899)

(Excerpt)

SWEET Auburn! o’er thy rolling slopes

The sparkling winter snows are spread;

Fast, fast the feathery flakes descend

O’er these calm dwellings of the dead;

And evening with its thickening glooms,

Enshrouds the city of the tombs!

Yet ere the latest flame of day

Along these devious walks shall fade,

Let me across the breezy height

Still press, and through each sombrous glade,

And commune with this silent crowd,

In stony cell and swathing shroud.

Twilight enkindles with its blaze

White columns, glimmering all around;

High soaring obelisks, that throw

Their lengthening shadows o’er the ground;

And tapering shafts, and gleaming urns

Whereon day’s latest incense burns.

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