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.