Hampton Beach

I had some questions about the passage used in ET's obituary - the final verse from JG Whittier's poem Hampton Beach. The poem is relevant for several reasons. First, we grew up in Hampton, NH, and spent a great deal of time at Hampton Beach. John Greenleaf Whittier also spent a lot of time in Hampton. He was born in Haverhill, Ma., and lived there most of his life. The Chandler family moved to Haverhill, Ma. when ET was 7 years old. ET and I attended JG Whittier Elementary School in Haverhill. Our grandparents ran a bakery in Haverhill, nearly directly across the street from Whittier's boyhood home. Our grandfather illustrated a book of New England that was printed at Whitter Press. So the connection with Whittier is a strong one for us. I was touched by numerous passages from his poem on Hampton Beach, as they seem to deal with the issue of death, and its impact on how we live our lives.

The picture above is of Great Boar's Head in Hampton Beach, circa 1860, by A. W. Fuller, reprinted here with permission from the town of Hampton, NH, Hampton Library. I have many fond memories of this view, at the beach with Elizabeth and the family.

So here, in its entirety, is Whittier's poem.

HAMPTON BEACH
By John Greenleaf Whittier

   The sunlight glitters keen and bright,
      Where, miles away,
   Lies stretching to my dazzled sight,
   A luminous belt, a misty light,
Beyond the dark pine bluffs and wastes of sandy gray.

   The tremulous shadow of the Sea!
      Against its ground
   Of silvery light, rock, hill, and tree,
   Still as a picture, clear and free,
With varying outline mark the coast for miles around.

   On -- on -- we tread with loose-flung rein
      Our seaward way,
   Through dark-green fields and blossoming grain,
   Where the wild brier-rose skirts the lane,
And bends above our heads the flowering locust spray.

   Ha ! like a kind hand on my brow
      Comes this fresh breeze,
   Cooling its dull and feverish glow,
   While through my being seems to flow,
The breath of a new life,, - the healing of the seas!

   Now rest we, where this grassy mound
      His feet bath set
   In the great waters, which have bound
   His granite ankles greenly round
With long and tangled moss, and weeds with cool spray wet.

   Good by to pain and care! I take
      Mine ease to-day :
   Here where these sunny waters break,
   And ripples this keen breeze, I shake
All burdens from the heart, all weary thoughts away.

   I draw a freer breath -- I seem
      Like all I see --
   Waves in the sun -- the white-winged gleam
   Of sea-birds in the slanting beam --
And far-off sails which flit before the south-wind free.

   So when Time's veil shall fall asunder,
      The soul may know
   No fearful change, nor sudden wonder,
   Nor sink the weight of mystery under,
But with the upward rise, and with the vastness grow.

   And all we shrink from now may seem
      No new revealing;
   Familiar as our childhood's stream,
   Or pleasant memory of a dream
The loved and cherished Past upon the new life stealing.

   Serene and mild the untried light
      May have its dawning;
   And, as in summer's northern night
   The evening and the dawn unite,
The sunset hues of Time blend with the soul's new morning.

   I sit alone ; in foam and spray
      Wave after wave
   Breaks on the rocks which, stern and gray,
   Shoulder the broken tide away,
Or murmers hoarse and strong through mossy cleft and cave.

   What heed I of the dusty land
      And noisy town?
   I see the mighty deep expand
   From its white line of glimmering sand
To where the blue of heaven on bluer waves shuts down!

   In listless quietude of mind,
      I yield to all
   The change of cloud and wave and wind
   And passive on the flood reclined,
I wander with the waves, and with them rise and fall.

   But look, thou dreamer! -- wave and shore
      In shadow lie;
   The night-wind warns me back once more
   To where, my native hilltops o'er,
Bends like an arch of fire glowing sunset sky.

   So then, beach, bluff, and wave, farewell !
      I bear with me
   No token stone nor glittering shell,
   But long and oft shall Memory tell
Of this brief thoughtful hour of musing by the Sea.