Born December 1879 in Vinalhaven, Maine Beulah Sylvester Oxton (1879-1924) was a teacher in the Bar Harbor school system, Maine writer and poet. She was a member of the Maine Writers\u27 Research Club.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainebicentennial/1012/thumbnail.jp

Oxton, Beulah Sylvester

English

University of Maine

The University of MaineDigitalCommons@UMaineMaine Bicentennial Special Collections1920Maine, The Union's Aurora: A Maine CentennialPoem, 1820-1920Beulah Sylvester OxtonFollow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainebicentennialPart of the United States History CommonsThis Book is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Maine Bicentennial by anauthorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact um.library.technical.services@maine.edu.Recommended CitationOxton, Beulah Sylvester, "Maine, The Union's Aurora: A Maine Centennial Poem, 1820-1920" (1920). Maine Bicentennial. 13.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainebicentennial/13Pamp2308Maine, The Union’s AuroraA Maine Centennial Poem1820 -1 9 2 0BEULAH SYLVESTER OXTONMaine, The Union’s Aurora.PART IOpal mists are rising, the breath of the sleeping sea,The morning star now melts now glows in tremulous mystery. The dawn light pale and tender turns saffron, coral and rose, Gleams thru the purple shadows and the darkness overflows· Then, gloriously, superbly, the great gold disk o f the sunWheels o’er the verge of the dimpling waves and a new day has begun!Far to the north a majestic peak salutes the new-born day, Signals a joyous welcome to the sun’s first shining ray—’Tis Katahdin lifting its forehead into the rosy sky,The nation’s silent watchtower, whence the banners o f morn- ing fly.Then up from her thousand valleys where still the night wind dreams,From her dew-bespangled meadows, her silver lakes and streams,From forests cool and fragrant, from sparkling creek and bay Maine, the Union’s Aurora, herald’s the birth of day.REVEILEAwake, awake, O, Sisters!Wake quickly every one,Dreaming time is over-past,The drama of night is done.The cries of babes,The idiot’s scream,The maniac’s awful moans,The voices of children pleading for bread, The drunkard’s oaths and groans.A night of shame and cruel wrong,Of selfishness and greed;Of discord, squalor and misery,Of liquor’s foulest deed.A night so blackThat only God by infinite wisdom knew If light could vanquish its darkness,Or ever a star shine thru;That beyond the verge Of its dreadful pallLay the yet unrisen morn Of a day that should bring the glory Of Prohibition’s dawn.But when the dropping o f the sandIn Time’s great hour-glass was spent, There rose a radiant planet,The sable clouds were rent;And with the voices of the nightA mighty shout o f joy was blent—A light! A light! A light!Day, God’s day!The brightest day in History’s myriad years,Made brighter still by a golden hopeThat like a mountain rears Its towering peak Into the blueAbove the low-hung clouds,And glows with the splendor o f sunrise While shadow the plain enshrouds.Out of the darkness of sorrow and tears Into the beauty of Love’s glad years! Out o f the midnight o f failure and crime Into the glory o f service sublime!Down on the dreaming valleysAnd pine-crowned heights o f Maine, That lovely luminous planet The fire of Heaven rained And the mists o f night up-rolling Rose from her granite hills,Opal and pearl and sapphire,And the voice of the laughing rills Mingled with music o f thrushesIn the woodlands damp and dim And song of the ocean breakers,—As a sweetly chanted hymn.But clearer, brighter, fairer,The light of Heaven stole Into the heart of her people,Into their longing soul;And kindled a holy fireThat never more shall fail ’Till the sun is cold in heavenAnd the mighty stars are pale.For the spirit of saints and martyrs Is the source o f its living coals, The breath that quickens that fire Is the prayer of her hero-souls.With her face to that beauteous morning Her calm eyes steady and bright,Her heart aflame and undaunted By terrors of bygone night;With courage as strong as her mountains, With patience as deep as her sea, With soul overflowed with pity For suffering humanity,She lifted her love-keyed bugleAnd with lips touched by angel power Sounded a world-heard clarion,Heralded the New Dawn hour.REVEILEAwake O, woe-weary Sisters!Passion’s black night is passed!The sorrow and tears Of the yester years And Love’s vigil is over at last!The sound of men’s sobs in the darkness, The drunkard’s terrible cries,The broken life Of a drunkard’s wife,The profaning o f sacred ties!( 7)No longer the snare of the fowler Is set for the children’s feet!Nor loathsome nest Of saloons infest Either city or village street!Nevermore the strength of our manhood Be bartered for tainted gold! Nevermore Youth’s joy Shall Liquor destroy,Nor its honor by Greed be sold!Arise O, Sisters beloved!Thy garments of righteousness don! Come forth to the light,For the victory unite And hail Prohibition’s white morn!As one who standing on some mountain top That shoulders high above its fellow peaks,Sees the white billows of the rolling mistLift and dissolve, while o’er the ranges’ cheeks The blush of dawn glows warm and beautiful;Peak after peak looms thru the mellow mist And burns with sunrise incense. The ravines And valleys showing blue and amethyst Give up their shadows and with light o’erflow.On every side the new horizons grow ’Till all the clouds are gone. Then broad and fair,  A perfect arc encircles earth and air.(8)So Maine has stood and watched the growing day Of Prohibition light state after state.The clouds of ignorance and mists o f sin Have risen and dissolved. Inviolate Truth like heaven’s sun shines bright and clear, Before its light old errors disappear.Maine saw her sister states like peaks emerge From out the folds of License’s mantling cloud And gleam and glow with Prohibition’s ray Echoing back her bugle’s challenge loud.Intrenched in valleys where they had held sway The Powers of Darkness long withstood the day; But Science, Education, Woman’s vote Religion, Medicine, Philanthropy,Like shafts of sunlight bent their forceful rays And turned the blackest depths to shining ways. So grander, brighter, fairer grew the view,Larger and broader the horizon new,Until the circle of its ambient mark Was National Prohibition’s perfect arc.As Maine has stood so Maine shall stand In the years that are to be;True to her trust as the faithful stars Or the tides of her wind-tossed sea:Keeping her watch thru the long, long nights Of the Nation’s doubts and fears,Knowing the morn will break at last She scans the sky and peers Ever with eyes to the quickening East;And with ear alert and keen She hears the prow of the coming day Wreathed with rainbowed mist and spray Breaking the waves of the surging sea,While the earth rolls on its celestial way Bringing new dawns to Humanity.S p e c  C o l l  V FO x t o n ,  B e u l a h  S y l v e s t e r   M a i n eIIti|i!f\%

Maine, The Union\u27s Aurora: A Maine Centennial Poem, 1820-1920

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Maine, The Union\u27s Aurora: A Maine Centennial Poem, 1820-1920

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