This long, green valley sloping to the sun,

            With dimpling, silver waters loitering through;

            The sky that bends above me, mild and blue;

The wide, still wheat-fields, yellowing one by one,

And all the peaceful sounds when day is done―

            I cannot bear their calm monotony!

            Great God! I want the thunder of the sea!

I want to feel the wild red lightnings run

Around, about me; hear the bellowing surf,

            And breathe the tempest’s sibilant, sobbing breath;

            To front the elements, defying death,

And fling myself prone on the spray-beat turf,

            And hear the strong waves trampling wind and rain,

            Like herds of beasts upon the mighty plain.

“In a Valley of Peace” as it appears in Higginson’s When the Birds Go North Again (1898).

“In a Valley of Peace” printed in an unidentified publication and signed by Ella Higginson. Clipping courtesy of the Ella Higginson Papers, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Heritage Resources, Western Washington University, Bellingham Washington.