On Bancroft Height.

On Bancroft height Aurora's face         Shines brighter than a star,     As stepping forth in dewy grace,         The gates of day unbar;     And lo! the firmament, the hills,         And the vales that intervene -     Creation's self with gladness thrills         To greet the matin queen.     On Bancroft height the atmosphere         Is but an endless waft     Of life's elixir, pure and clear         As mortal ever quaffed;     And such the sweet salubrity         Of air and altitude,     Is banished many a malady         And suffering subdued.     On Bancroft height the sunset glow         When day departing dies     Outrivals all that tourists know         Of famed Italian skies;     And happy dwellers round about         Who view the scene aright     In admiration grow devout         And laud the Lord of light.     Round Bancroft height rich memories         Commingle earth's affairs,     Among the world's celebrities,         Of him whose name it bears;     The scholar-wise compatriot         Who left to later men     The grand achievements unforgot         Of that historic pen.     Fair Bancroft height revisited         When all the land is white,     A halo crowns its noble head         Impelling fresh delight;     The daring wish in winter-time         The blizzard to defy     Those shining slippery slopes to climb         Up nearer to the sky.     Though Boreas abrade the cheek         With buffetings of snow,     He gives a vigor that the weak         And languid never know;     And with rejuvenescent thrill,         Like children everywhere,     Bestirs the rhapsody, the will         To make a snow-man there.     On Bancroft height and Bancroft tower         Such vistas charm the eye     'Twere life's consummate, glorious hour         But to behold - and die;     Yet in the sparkle and the glow         Is earth so very fair     The spirit lingers, loath to go,         And dreams of heaven - up there.