Andromeda, and Other Poems/Ode to the North-East Wind

by Charles Kingsley

ODE TO THE NORTH-EAST WIND.

WELCOME, wild North-easter!
Shame it is to see
Odes to every zephyr;
 Ne'er a verse to thee.
Welcome, black North-easter!
 O'er the German foam;
O'er the Danish moorlands,
 From thy frozen home.
Tired we are of summer,
 Tired of gaudy glare,
Showers soft and steaming,
 Hot and breathless air.
Tired of listless dreaming,
 Through the lazy day:
Jovial wind of winter
 Turn us out to play!
Sweep the golden reed-beds;
 Crisp the lazy dyke;
Hunger into madness
 Every plunging pike.
Fill the lake with wild fowl;
 Fill the marsh with snipe;
While on dreary moorlands
 Lonely curlew pipe.
Through the black fir-forest
 Thunder harsh and dry,
Shattering down the snow flakes
 Off the curdled sky.
Hark! The brave North-easter!
 Breast-high lies the scent,
On by holt and headland,
 Over heath and bent.
Chime, ye dappled darlings,
 Through the sleet and snow.
Who can over-ride you?
 Let the horses go!
Chime, ye dappled darlings,
 Down the roaring blast;
You shall see a fox die
 Ere an hour be past.
Go! and rest to-morrow,
 Hunting in your dreams,
While our skates are ringing
 O'er the frozen streams.
Let the luscious South-wind
 Breathe in lovers' sighs,
While the lazy gallants
 Bask in ladies' eyes.
What does he but soften
 Heart alike and pen?
'Tis the hard grey weather
 Breeds hard English men.
What's the soft South-wester?
 'Tis the ladies' breeze,
Bringing home their trueloves
 Out of all the seas:
But the black North-easter,
 Through the snow-storm hurled,
Drives our English hearts of oak
 Seaward round the world.
Come, as came our fathers,
 Heralded by thee,
Conquering from the eastward,
 Lords by land and sea.
Come; and strong within us
 Stir the Vikings' blood;
Bracing brain and sinew;
 Blow, thou wind of God!