Carlyle and Emerson

Montgomery Schuyler (1843–1914)

A BALE-FIRE kindled in the night,

By night a blaze, by day a cloud,

With flame and smoke all England woke,—

It climbed so high, it roared so loud:

While over Massachusetts’ pines

Uprose a white and steadfast star;

And many a night it hung unwatched,—

It shone so still, it seemed so far.

But Light is Fire, and Fire is Light;

And mariners are glad for these,—

The torch that flares along the coast,

The star that beams above the seas.