Ralph Waldo Emerson - Poems, 1904 by gnosisclassics

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POEMS BY

RALPH WALDO EMERSON HOUSEHOLD EDITION

BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY (9tbe laiter^tbe

pte0, Camlintige

1883, 1895,

1876,

AND

WALDO EMERSON EDWARD W. EMERSON

BY RALPH

1904,

PREFACE Mr. Cabot's prefatory note to the RiverINside Edition of the Poems, published the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Mr. Emerson's death, he said " This volume contains nearly all the pieces

year after

Poems and May-Day of former In 1876, Mr. Emerson pubHshed a from his Poems, adding six new ones

included in the editions.

selection

and omitting many.' are

now

those omitted, several

restored, in accordance with

many

pressed wishes of

readers

the ex-

and lovers of

them. Also some pieces never before published are

here

grounds.

given in

an Appendix

Some of them appear

Mr. Emerson's

approval, but

;

on various had

to have

have been

withheld because they were unfinished. it

seemed best not

to suppress,

now that

never receive their completion.

of an early date, less

These

they can

Others, mostly

remained unpublished, doubt-

because of their personal and private nature.

Some of

these

seem

to have an autobiographic

interest sufficient to justify their

publication.

Others again, often mere fragments, have been '

Selected

Poems

Little Classic Edition.

PREFACE

admitted as characteristic, or as expressing in poetic form thoughts found in the Essays.

" In coming to a decision

these cases

seemed, on the whole, preferable to take the risk of including too posite,

much

rather than the op-

and to leave the task of further winnow-

ing to the hands of Time.

As was

stated in the

preface to the

first

volume of this edition of Mr. Emerson's writings, the readings adopted by him in the Se-

Poems have not always been followed some cases preference has been given to corrections made by him when he was lected

here, but in

in fuller strength than at the time of the last revision.

change

in the

arrangement of the stanzas

May-Day,' in the part representative of the march of Spring, received his sanction as bringing them more nearly in accordance with of

the events in Nature."

In the preparation of the Riverside Edition of the Poems, Mr.

Cabot very considerately

took the present editor into counsel senting

Mr. Emerson's

family),

(as repre-

who

that

time in turn took counsel with several persons

of taste and mature judgment with regard es-

PREFACE pecially to

the admission of

poems

hitherto

unpublished and of fragments that seemed interesting and pleasing. Mr. Cabot and he were entirely in

accord with regard to the River-

In the present edition, the sub-

side Edition.

stance of the Riverside Edition has been preserved, with hardly an exception, although

some

poems and fragments have been added. None of the poems therein printed have been omitted. " The House," which appeared in the first volume oi Poems and " Nemesis," "Una," " Love and Thought " and " Merlin's Songs," from the y

May-Day volume, have been

restored.

the

few mottoes of the Essays, which Mr. Emerson printed as " Elements " in May-Day, most of the others have been added.

Following Mr. Emer-

son's precedent of giving his brother Edward's " Last Farewell " a place beside the poem in his memory, two pleasing poems by Ellen Tucker, his first wife,

which he published in the Dial, have

been placed with his own poems relating to her.

The poems

publication in the last edition of that

some

Mr. Emerson had long kept by

him, but had never quite been ready to print,

and of various fragments on Poetry, Nature and Life, was not done without advice and care-

PREFACE

ful consideration,

and then was

The

haps a rash experiment.

which has been shown

and methods and Hfe pieces contain

the present

almost

all

felt to

in the author's

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

thought

for these unfinished

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

has

made

justifiable

keep

much autobiography

editor feel

be per-

continued interest

of these and to add a few. Their order

has been slightly altered.

few poems

from the verse-books

suffi-

ciently complete to have a title are printed in the

Appendix

for the first time

tember," " October," " After

much

" Insight," " Sep-

Hymn"

and "Riches."

hesitation the editor has gath-

ered in their order of time, and printed at the

end of the book, some twenty early

pieces, a

of them taken from the Appendix of the edition

few last

and others never printed before. They

are for the

most part journals

in verse

covering

the period of his school-teaching, study for the ministry and exercise of that office, his sickness,

bereavement, travel abroad and return to the

new

life.

This sad period of probation

minated by the episode of

is illu-

his first love.

Not

for their poetical merit, except in flashes, but for the light they

throw on the growth of his

thought and character are they included.

PREFACE In

this

volume the course of the Muse,

Emerson tells own poems. I

vii

hang

Time

it, is

my and

pursued with regard to

as his

verses in the wind, tide their faults will find.

EDWARD W. EMERSON. March

iz, 1904.

CONTENTS BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH POEMS GOOD-BYE EACH AND ALL THE PROBLEM TO RHEA THE VISIT

9 12

URIEL

THE WORLD-SOUL THE SPHINX ALPHONSO OF CASTILE

MITHRIDATES TO J. W. DESTINY

GUY HAMATREYA THE RHODORA

THE HUMBLE-BEE BERRYING 'THE SNOW-STORM WOODNOTES I

WOODNOTES MONADNOC

FABLE

25 aS

29 31 33 35

37 38

''r?^ 48

—So' 75

ODE

ASTR^A

£TIENNE DE LA BO£CE

COMPENSATION FORBEARANCE

THE PARK

FORERUNNERS SURSUM CORDA ODE TO BEAUTY GIVE ALL TO LOVE TO ELLEN AT THE SOUTH

85 86 87

90 93

CONTENTS TO ELLEN

CONTENTS LOVE AND THOUGHT

CONTENTS

xii

SPIRITUAL LAWS

*75

BEAUTY MANNERS ART UNITY WORSHIP PRUDENCE NATURE

»75 »76

.THE INFORMING SPIRIT CIRCLES

i8i

^77 *79 5179

aSo *8i

i82

INTELLECT

283

GIFTS

483

PROMISE CARITAS

283

POWER WEALTH

284

ILLUSIONS

287

284 285

QUATRAINS AND TRANSLATIONS QUATRAINS TRANSLATIONS

291

298

APPENDIX THE POET FRAGMENTS ON THE POET AND THE POETIC GIFT

FRAGMENTS ON NATURE AND NATURE LIFE

THE BOHEMIAN HYMN GRACE

309 320

LIFE 335

349 359

INSIGHT

359 360

PAN

360

MONADNOC FROM AFAR SEPTEMBER EROS OCTOBER PETER'S FIELD

MUSIC

361

362 362 363

36s

CONTENTS THE WALK

366

COSMOS THE MIRACLE THE WATERFALL

366 368

369

WALDEN

370 37s

THE ENCHANTER 'WRITTEN IN A VOLUME OF GCETHE

373

RICHES

374

PHILOSOPHER INTELLECT

375

LIMITS INSCRIPTION FOR

A WELL MARTYRS OF THE WAR THE EXILE

374 37S

MEMORY

OF THE 376 376

POEMS OF YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD THE BELL

THOUGHT PRAYER TO-DAY FAME THE SUMMONS THE RIVER GOOD HOPE LINES TO ELLEN SECURITY

A MOUNTAIN GRAVE A LETTER

HYMN SELF-RELIANCE -WRITTEN IN NAPLES --WRITTEN AT ROME

WEBSTER

INDEX OF FIRST LINES INDEX OF TITLES

379 380 380

381 383

384 385

387 387 388

390 391 393

394 395

396 398

401

407

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

THE

Emersons

first

appeared in the north

of England, but Thomasj

who

landed in

Massachusetts in 1638, came from Hertfordshire. He built soon after a house, sometimes called the

which

Saint's Rest,

stands in

still

Ipswich on the slope of Heart-break Hill, close by Labour-in- vain Creek. Ralph Waldo Emerson was the sixth in descent from him. He was

born in Boston, 1803.

He was the

Summer

son, the minister of the First

whose

father,

May

Street,

third son of William

Church

25,

Emer-

in Boston,

William Emerson, had been the

patriotic minister

of Concord

at the

outbreak

of the Revolution, and died a chaplain in the army.

Ruth Haskins,

Waldo Emerson, was

the mother of

left

a family of five little boys.

widow

The

Ralph

in 181 1, with

taste

of these

boys was scholarly, and four of them went through the Latin School to Harvard College,

and graduated

there.

Their mother was

a per-

son of great sweetness, dignity, and piety, bringing up her sons wisely and well in very straitened

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

xvi

circumstances, and loved by them.

Her

hus-

band's stepfather, Rev. Dr. Ripley of Concord, helped her, and constantly invited the boys to

Old Manse, so that the woods and fields along the Concord River were first a playground and then the background of the dreams of their the

awakening imaginations. Born in the city, Emerson's young mind

found delight which

first

poems and classic prose, to him as naturally as an-

his instincts led

other boy's would to go fishing, but his vacations

the

country supplemented these by

giving him great and increasing love of nature.

woven into of New England woodlands. Even as a

In his early poems pictures little

classic

imagery

boy he had the habit of attempting

flights

of verse, stimulated by Milton, Pope, or Scott,

and he and

his

mates took pleasure in declaim-

ing to each other in barns and so

attics.

was

of thoughts and fancies that he sought

full

the pen instinctively, to jot

them down. Emerson did not shine as a scholar, though he won prizes for essays and declama-

college

tions, being especially unfitted for

studies, literary

and enjoying the

mathematical

classics rather in a

than grammatical way.

And

yet

it is

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH man

doubtful whether any

xvii

used his time to better purpose with reference to his after for

life,

in his class

young Emerson's

instinct led

him

wide reading of works, outside the curriculum, that spoke directly to him. He had already

formed the habit of writing

in a journal, not the

facts

but the thoughts and inspirations of the

day

often, also,

;

tations,

On 1

good

and scraps of

stories or poetical

his

own

quo-

verse.

graduation from Harvard in the class of

82 1, following the traditions of his family,

Emerson

resolved to study to be a minister, and

meantime helped

his older brother

William

the support of the family by teaching in a school for

young

ladies in Boston, that the

successfully

established.

The

former had

principal

was

twenty-one and the assistant nineteen years of

For school-teaching on the usual lines Emerson was not fitted, and his youth and shyness prevented him from imparting his best age.

gifts to his scholars.

Years

later,

when,

in his

age, his old scholars assembled to greet him, he

no hint had been brought into the school of what at that very time " I was regretted that

writing every night in

chamber,

first

thoughts on morals and the beautiful laws of

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

xviii

compensation, and of individual genius, which to observe and illustrate have given sweetness to

many

years of

remembered pleasure and

his

Yet many scholars presence and teaching with

life."

gratitude, not only in Boston, but

Chelmsford and Roxbury, for while his younger brothers were in college it was necesin

sary that he should help.

through

all

his youth,

in his intellectual life,

his aunt,

In these years, as

he was loved, spurred on

and keenly

Mary Moody Emerson,

criticised

wide reader, inspired by religious

minded, but

The health too ascetic a nals

an eager and zeal, high-

eccentric.

of the young teacher suffered from life,

and unmistakable danger-sig-

began to appear, fortunately heeded

in time,

but disappointment and delay resulted, borne,

however, with sense and courage. at the

His course

Divinity School in Cambridge was

much

broken nevertheless, in October, 1826, he was "approbated to preach" by the Middlesex As;

sociation of Ministers. at this

winter at the North

time threatened to prove

fatal,

so he was

sent South by his helpful kinsman. Rev.

Samuel

Ripley, and passed the winter in Florida with benefit,

working northward

in the spring, preach-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ing in the

cities,

and resumed

his

xix

studies at

Cambridge. In 1829, Emerson was called by the Second or Old North Church in Boston to become the associate pastor with Rev. Henry Ware, and soon after, because of his senior's delicate health,

was called on to assume the full duty. Theological dogmas, such as the Unitarian Church of Channing's day accepted, did not appeal to

Emerson, nor did the supernatural

in religion

in its ordinary acceptation interest him.

omnipresence of daily

spirit,

The

the dignity of man, the

miracle of the universe, were what he

taught, and while the older

congregation

may have been

members of

the

disquieted that he

did not dwell on revealed religion, his words

reached the young people, stirred thought, and awakened aspiration. At this time he lived with his mother and his young wife (Ellen Tucker) in Chardon Street. For three years he ministered to his people in Boston.

Then having

felt

the shock of being obliged to conform to church usage, as stated prayer

move, and

spirit

did not

especially the administration of the

Communion, he his people,

when the

honestly laid his troubles before

and proposed

them some modifi-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

While they considered his Emerson went into the White

cation of this

proposition,

rite.

Mountains to weigh his conflicting duties to his church and conscience. He came down, bravely to meet the refusal of the church to change the rite, and in a sermon preached in September, 183 a, explained his objections to

it,

he could not honestly administer

parted from his people in

but the wrench was

felt.

His

and, because

it,

resigned.

all

kindness,

wife had recently

seemed to others broken up. But meantime voices from far away had reached him. He sailed for Europe, landed in Italy, saw cities, and art, and men, but would not stay long. Of the dead, Michael Angelo appealed chiefly to him there Landor among the living. He soon passed northward, making died, he was

ill

himself, his

life

;

little

stay in Paris, but sought out Carlyle, then

hardly recognized, and living in the lonely

of the Scottish Border.

There began

hills

a friend-

ship which had great influence on the lives of

both men, and lasted through

life.

also

Wordsworth. But the new life before him called him home. He landed at Boston within the year in good health and hope, and joined his mother and

visited

;

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH youngest brother Charles invitations to preach

Newton. Frequent

still

xxi

came, and were ac-

cepted, and he even was sounded as to succeed-

ing Dr. but, as

New Bedford he stipulated for freedom from cere-

Dewey

in the

church

monial, this came to nothing.

In the autumn of 1834 he moved to Concord, kinsman. Dr. Ripley, at the

living with his

Manse, but soon bought house and land on the Boston Road, on the edge of the village towards Walden woods.

Thither, in the au-

tumn, he brought his wife. Miss Lidian Jackof Plymouth, and this was their home

son,

during the rest of their

The new

lives.

which he had been called opened pleasantly and increased in happiness life

and opportunity, except reavements,

for the sadness of be-

for, in the first

few years, his

bril-

Edward and Charles died, and soon afterward Waldo, his firstborn son, and later his mother. Emerson had left traditional religion, the city, the Old World, behind, and now went to Nature as his teacher, his inspiration. His liant brothers

first

book, " Nature," which he was meditating

while in Europe, was finished here, and published in 1836.

His

practice during

all

his life

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

xxii

Concord was to go alone to the woods almost daily, sometimes to wait there for hours, and, in

when thus

attuned, to receive the message to

which he was to give voice. be colored by him

Though

in transmission,

might

he held that

the light was universal.

" Ever

the

words of the Gods resound.

But the porches of man's ear

Seldom

in this

low

Are unsealed

life's

that he

round

may hear."

But he resorted, also, to the books of those who had handed down the oracles truly, and was quick to find the message destined for him.

Men,

too, he studied eagerly, the

humblest and

the highest, regretting always that the brand of

him often silenced the men of shop He was everywhere a learner, expecting light from the youngest and least educated visitor. The thoughts combined the scholar on

and

office

where he came.

with the flower of his reading were gradually

grouped into lectures, and his main occupation through life was reading these to who would hear, at first in courses in Boston, but later all

over the country, for the

New

England

Lyceum sprang up

in these years in

spread westward to the

every town, and

new settlements even

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH beyond the

xxiii

His winters were spent him interesting journeys, for he loved to watch the growth of the Republic in which he had faith, and his summers were spent in study and writing. These lectures Mississippi.

in these rough, but to

were

later severely

pruned and

revised,

and the

them gathered into seven volumes of essays under different names between 1841 and best of

1876.

The

were given

courses in Boston, which at

in the

first

Masonic Temple, were always

well attended by earnest and thoughtful people.

The young,

whether in years or

in spirit,

were

always and to the end his audience of the spoken or written word.

The freedom

platform pleased Emerson.

of the

Lyceum

found that peo-

ple would hear on Wednesday with approval and unsuspectingly doctrines from which on Sunday they felt officially obliged to dissent. Mr. Lowell, in his essays, has spoken of these early lectures and what they were worth to him and others suffering from the generous discontent of youth with things as they were. Emerson used to say, " My strength and my doom is

to be solitary;" but to a retired scholar a

wholesome

offset to this

lecturing in cities

and

was the travelling and in

raw frontier towns.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

xxiv

bringing him into touch with the people, and this

he knew and valued.

In 1837 Emerson gave the Phi Beta oration in Cambridge,

which increased

his

The

Kappa

American Scholar,

growing reputation, but the

following year his Address to the Senior Class

Divinity School brought out, even from

at the

the friendly

Unitarians, severe strictures and

dangerous doctrines. Of heresy Emerson said " I deny personality

warnings against this

its

God

because

too

it is

not too much."

little,

really strove to elevate the idea of

still

God. Yet those who were pained or shocked by his teachings respected Emerson. His lectures were by

demand

;

he was often asked to speak

literary societies at

preached regularly

orthodox colleges. East

Lexington until

1838, but thereafter withdrew from the ministerial office.

this

time the progressive and

meet for discussion and help in Boston, among them George Ripley, Cyrus Bartol, James Freeman Clarke, Alcott, Dr. Hedge, Margaret Fuller, and spiritually

minded young people used

Elizabeth Peabody. ing of friends, which

what

Perhaps from

Emerson

this gather-

attended, came

called the Transcendental

Movement,

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

xxv

two results of which were the Brook Farm Community and the Dial magazine, in which last Emerson took great interest, and was for the time an editor.

Many

quent visitors

Concord. Alcott moved thither

after the

of these friends were

fre-

breaking up of his school. Hawthorne

came to dwell there. Henry Thoreau, a Concord youth, greatly interested Emerson ; indeed, became for a year or two a valued inmate of his home, and helped and instructed him in the labors of the garden and little farm, which gradually grew to ten acres, the chief interest of which for the owner was his trees, which he loved and tended. Emerson helped introduce his countrymen to the teachings of Carlyle, and edited his works here, where they found more readers than at home.

also

In 1847 Emerson was invited to read lectures England, and remained abroad a year, visiting France also in her troublous times. English

Traits was a result.

Just before this journey he

had collected and published his poems. A later volume, called May Day, followed in 1867. He had written verses from childhood, and to the purified expression of poetry he, through life,

eagerly aspired.

He said, " I

my poems

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

xxvi

best because

not

who

write them."

1866 the degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on him by Harvard University, and he was chosen an Overseer. In 1 867 he again gave the Phi Beta Kappa oration, and in 1870 and 1871 gave courses in Philosophy in the University Lectures at Cambridge. Emerson was not merely a man of letters.

recognized and did the private and public

duties of the hour.

exercised a wide hospi-

tality to souls as well as bodies.

came

him

for rules,

Eager youths

and went away with

light.

Reformers, wise and unwise, came to him, and were kindly received.

They were

often disap-

pointed that they could not harness him to their

and transient scheme. He said. My reforms include theirs I must go my way help people by my strength, not by my weakness. But if a storm threatened, he felt bound to appear and show his colors. Against the crying evils of his time he worked bravely in his own partial

way. the

He wrote

wrong done

;

to President to the

Van Buren

against

Cherokees, dared speak

against the idolized Webster,

when he deserted

the cause of Freedom, constantly spoke of the iniquity of slavery, aided with speech

and money

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

xxvii

the Free State cause in Kansas, was at Phillips's side at the antislavery

meeting

1861 broken

up by the Boston mob, urged emancipation during the war.

He enjoyed his Concord home and neighbors, served on the school committee for years, did

much

for the

Lyceum, and spoke on

great occasions.

ings, oftener to listen

the town's

went to all town-meetand admire than to speak,

and always took pleasure and pride in the people. In return he was respected and loved by them.

Emerson's house was destroyed by

fire in

1872, and the incident exposure and fatigue did

him harm.

His many

friends insisted

re-

building his house and sending him abroad to

went up the Nile, and revisited friends, and, on his return, was welcomed and escorted home by the people of Concord. After this time he was unable to write. His old age was quiet and happy among his family and friends. He died get well.

England, finding old and new

in April, 1882.

Edward W. Emerson. January, 1899.

POEMS

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

POEMS GOOD-BYE Good-bye, proud world

'm going home and I 'm not thine. I

Thou art not my Long through thy weary crowds friend,

river-ark

Long

on the ocean been tossed

I 've

But now, proud world

Good-bye

roam

brine,

like the driven

'm going home.

fawning face

to Flattery's

foam

;

To Grandeur -with his wise grimace; To upstart Wealth's averted eye; To supple Office, low and high To crowded halls, to court and street To frozen hearts and hasting feet; To those who go, and those who come ;

Good-bye, proud world

going to

Bosomed

secret

Whose Where Echo

my own

yon green

nook

;

'm going home.

hearth-stone, hills

alone,

in a pleasant land.

groves the frolic

fairies

planned

arches green, the livelong day.

the blackbird's roundelay,

;

; ;

EACH AND ALL

And

vulgar feet have never trod

spot that

O, when

sacred to thought and

safe in

sylvan home,

on the pride of Greece and

I tread

And when Where the

God.

Rome

stretched beneath the pines.

evening

star so

holy shines,

I laugh at the lore and the pride of man.

the sophist schools and the learned clan

For what are they

all,

When man

bush with

in the

in their high conceit.

God may meet

EACH AND ALL Little

thinks, in the field,

Of thee The

from the

yon red-cloaked clown

hill-top looking

down

;

heifer that lows in the upland farm.

Far-heard, lows not thine ear to charm

The ,

sexton, tolling his bell at noon,

Deems

not that great Napoleon

Stops his horse, and

Whilst

his files

lists

with delight.

sweep round yon Alpine height;

Nor knowest thou what argument

Thy

life to

thy neighbor's creed has lent.

All are needed by each one;

Nothing I

is fair

or good alone.

thought the sparrow's note from heaven,

;

;;

—

;

EACH AND ALL

Singing at dawn on the alder bough I

brought him home, in his nest,

sings the song, but

For

I did not bring

home

—

cheers not

even

now,

the river and sky

He sang to my ear, they sang to my The delicate shells lay on the shore The bubbles of the latest wave

;

—

eye.

Fresh pearls to their enamel gave,

And

the bellowing of the savage sea

Greeted their safe escape to me. I

wiped away the weeds and foam,

ft fetched 1

]

sea-born treasures

home

noisome things

But the poor,

unsightlj',

Had

beauty on the shore

left their

MVith the sun and the sand and the wild uproar.

The

lover watched his graceful maid,

As 'mid the virgin train she Nor knew her beauty's best

Was woven At

last

she

still

came

strayed, attire

by the snow-white choir. to his hermitage.

Like the bird from the woodlands to the cage;

The

gay enchantment was undone,

gentle wife, but fairy none.

Then

I said,

covet truth

Beauty

unripe childhood's cheat

I leave

behind with the games of youth

I spoke,

The

beneath

ground-pine curled

feet its

pretty wreath,

Running over the club-moss burrs

;

—

;;

;

THE PROBLEM I inhaled the violet's breath

Around me stood

the oaks and

firs

;

Pine-cones and acorns lay on the ground;

Over me

soared the eternal sky.

Full of light and of deity

Again

The

saw, again

rolling river, the

Beauty through I yielded

;

I heard,

morning

bird

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

senses stole;

myself to the perfect whole.

THE PROBLEM I

LIKE a church

;

I like a

cowl

I love a prophet of the soul

And on my

heart monastic aisles

Fall like sweet strains, or pensive smiles

Yet not

Would

Why

for all his faith I that

can see

cowled churchman

be.

should the vest on him allure.

Which

Not from

could not on

endure

a vain or shallow thought

His awful Jove young Phidias brought Never from lips of cunning fell

The

thrilling

Out from

Delphic oracle

;

the heart of nature rolled

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ;

;

THE PROBLEM The The

burdens of the Bible litanies

ol d

of nations came.

Like the volcano's tongue of flame.

from the burning core below,

The canticles of love and woe The hand that rounded Peter's dome And groined the aisles of Christian Rome :

Wrought

in a sad sincerity

Himself from God he could not

free

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

He builded better than he knew The conscious stone to beauty grew. ;

Know'st thou what wove yon woodbird's

Of leaves, Or how

and feathers from her breast

the fish outbuilt her shell.

Painting with

Or how

morn each annual

cell?

the sacred pine-tree adds

her old leaves

new myriads

Such and so grew these holy Whilst love and

piles,

terror laid the tiles.

Earth proudly wears the Parthenon,

the best

gem upon

And Morning

her zone,

opes with haste her

lids

gaze upon the Pyramids;

O'er England's abbeys bends the sky,

As on

its

friends,

with kindred eye

For out of Thought's interior sphere These wonders rose to upper air And Nature gladly gave them place.

nest

;

THE PROBLEM Adopted them into her

And

race.

granted them an equal date

With Andes and with These temples grew

Ararat.

as gro ws the grass

Art might obey, but not surpass. i'he passive

Master

lent his

hand anned

him pl j that reared the shrine

the vast soul th at o'er

And

the

same power

Bestrode the tribes that knelt within.

Ever the

fiery

Pentecost

Girds with one flame the countless host,

Trances the heart through chanting choirs,

And

through the priest the mind inspires.

'The word unto

Was

the prophet spoken

writ on tables yet unbroken

The word by

seers or sibyls told,

In groves of oak, or fanes of gold, Still floats Still

upon the morning wind.

whispers to the willing mind.

One accent of the Holy Ghost The heedless world hath never lost. I know what say the fathers wise, The Book itself before me lies.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Old

Chrysostom^ best Augustine,

And he who blent both in his line. The younger Golden Lips or mines, Taylor, the Shakspeare of divines.

His words are music

ear.

;

TO RHEA cowled

I see his

And I

portrait dear;

yet, for all his faith could see,

would not the good bishop

be.

TO RHEA Thee, dear friend, Not with flatteries,

Which

From

but truths.

tarnish not, but purify

which dims the morning's eye.

light

I have

a brother soothes,

come from

the spring-woods,

the fragrant solitudes

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;y

Listen what the poplar-tree And murmuring waters counselled me.

If with love thy heart has burned If thy love

Hide thy

;

unreturned

grief within thy breast.

Though it tear thee unexpressed For when love has once departed From the eyes of the false-hearted,

And The

one by one has torn off quite bandages of purple

Though Form the

light

thou wert the loveliest

Thou

soul had ever dressed.

shalt

seem, in each reply,

vixen to his altered eye;

>^^^-*-**^^

;;

TO RHEA

Thy Thy

softest pleadings

seem too

bold,

praying lute will seem to scold

Though thou

kept the straightest road.

Yet thou

errest far

But thou

shalt

and broad.

do as do the gods

In their cloudless periods

For of

this lore be

Though thou

;

thou sure,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

forget, the gods, secure,

Forget never their command.

But make the statute of

they lead, so follow

Ever have done, ever

this land.

all.

shall.

Warning to the blind and deaf, 'T is written on the iron leaf,

Who

drinks of Cupid's nectar cup

Loveth downward, and not up

He who Shall not

loves, of gods or

;

men.

by the same be loved again;

His sweetheart's idolatry Falls, in turn, a

When

god

new

degree.

once beguiled

By beauty of a mortal child And by her radiant youth delighted.

not fooled, but warily knoweth

His love

And 'Tis

shall

never be requited.

thus the wise Immortal doeth, his study

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

and delight

bless that creature

day and night

;

TO RHEA From

to defend her

all evils

In her lap to pour

all

splendor

ransack earth for riches rare.

And

fetch her stars to deck her hair

He mixes music And saddens her All grace,

all

with her thoughts.

with heavenly doubts

good

his great heart

knows.

Profuse in love, the king bestows, Saying,

Hearken

Build

I to the

Earth, Sea, Air

This monument of

All-Good, All-Fair.

Not

for a private good.

But

from

despair

beatitude.

Albeit scorned as none was scorned,

Adorn her as was none adorned. I make this maiden an ensample

Nature, through her kingdoms ample,

Whereby Statelier

model newer

forms and

To carry man Of power and These

Which

races.

fairer faces

new

;

degrees

of comeliness.

presents be the hostages I

pawn

See to thyself,

for

Thou art better, and And the god, having Is freed forever

release.

Universe

from

not worse.' given

all.

his thrall.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

THE AsKEST,

How

VISIT

long thou shalt stay

Devastator of the day

Know,

;

each substance and relation.

Thorough nature's operation. Hath its unit, bound and metre And every new compound Is some product and repeater,

;

Product of the earlier found.

But the unit of the

The

visit.

encounter of the wise,

Say, what other metre

Than

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

is it

the meeting of the eyes

Nature poureth into nature

Through

the channels of that feature,

Riding on the ray of sight. Fleeter far than whirlwinds go.

for service, or delight.

Hearts to hearts their meaning show,

Sum And

their long experience,

import intelligence.

Single look has drained the breast

Single

The

moment

years confessed.

duration of a glance

Is the

term of convenance.

;

URIEL

And, though thy rede be church

or state,

Frugal multiples of that.

Speeding Saturn cannot halt

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; thou

Linger,

Love

his

shalt rue the fault

moment

overstay,

Hatred's swift repulsions play.

URIEL It

fell in

Which

the ancient periods the brooding soul surveys,

ever the wild

Time

coined

itself

Into calendar months and days.

This was the lapse of Uriel,

Which

in Paradise befell.

Once, among the

Pleiads walking,

Seyd overheard the young gods talking;

And

the treason, too long pent.

his ears

The young Laws of

was

evident.

deities discussed

form, and metre just.

Orb, quintessence, and sunbeams.

What

subsisteth,

One, with low

And

and what seems.

tones that decide.

doubt and reverend use defied,

With

a look that solved the sphere,

;

URIEL

And

everywhere,

stirred the devils

Gave

his

sentiment divine

Against the being of a '

Line

in nature

line.

not found

Unit and universe are round In vain produced,

ail

;

rays return

Evil will bless, and ice will burn.'

Uriel spoke with piercing eye,

shudder ran around the sky

The The

stern old war-gods shook their heads,

seraphs frowned from myrtle-beds

Seemed

to the holy festival

The rash word boded ill to all The balance-beam of Fate was bent The bounds of good and ill were rent Strong Hades could not keep his own,

But

all slid

to confusion.

sad self-knowledge, withering,

the beauty of Uriel

fell

;

In heaven once eminent, the god Withdrew, that hour, into his cloud; Whether doomed to long gyration

In the sea of generation.

by knowledge grown too bright

hit the

nerve of feebler sight.

Straightway, a forgetting wind Stole over the celestial kind.

And

their lips the secret kept,

THE WORLD-SOUL

If in ashes the fire-seed slept.

But now and then, truth-speaking things

Shamed the angels' And, shrilling from

from

fruit

veiling wings;

the solar course,

of chemic force.

Procession of a soul in matter.

Or the speeding change of water. Or out of the good of evil born, Came Uriel's voice of cherub scorn. And a blush tinged the upper sky. And the gods shook, they knew not why.

THE WORLD-SOUL Thanks

To To

morning

to the

Thanks

to the

light.

foaming

the uplands of

New

sea,

Hampshire,

the green-haired forest free

Thanks

to each

man

;

of courage.

To the maids of holy mind. To the boy with his games undaunted

Who

never looks behind.

Cities of proud hotels.

Houses of Vice nes tles

rich and great.

your chambers,

Beneath your roofs of

slate.

;

THE WORLD-SOUL

i6 It

cannot conquer

folly,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Time-and-space-conquering steam, -

And

the light-outspeedingtelegragh

Bears nothi ng on

it s

beam

The politics are base The letters do not cheer And 't is far in the deeps of history, The voice that speaketh clear. Trade and the

Our

plot

ensnare us,

weak and worn ;

and corrupt each other.

And we Yet

streets

bodies are

despoil the unborn.

there in the parlor

Some

sits

figure of noble guise,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Our angel, in a stranger's form. Or woman's pleading eyes ; Or only a flashing sunbeam In

at the

Or Music

window-pane

;

pours on mortals

Its beautiful disdain.

The

inevitable

Finds them

And

morning

who

in cellars

;

be sure the all-loving Nature

Will smile

in a factory.

Yon ridge of purple Yon sky between

landscape. the walls.

;

THE WORLD-SOUL Hold

all

the hidden wonders

In scanty intervals.

Alas

the Sprite that haunts us

Deceives our rash desire It

;

whispers of the glorious gods.

And

leaves us in the mire.

cannot learn the cipher

That

writ

Stars taunt us

Which we

upon our

cell

by a mystery could never

If but one hero

knew

spell.

it,

The world would blush in flame ; The sage, till he hit the secret. Would hang his head for shame. Our brothers have not read it. Not one

And

has found the key

henceforth

;

are comforted,

are but such as they.

Still, still

the secret presses

;

The nearing clouds draw down The crimson morning flames into The fopperies of the town. Withm, without the idle earth, Stars

weave

eternal rings

;

The sun himself shines heartily. And shares the joy he brings.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

THE WORLD-SOUL

And what Like

And

Trade sow

cities

along the shore,

shells

thatch with towns the prairie broad

—

With railways ironed o'er ? They are but sailing foam-bells

Along Thought's causing stream.

And take their shape and sun-color From him that sends the dream. For Destiny never swerves

Nor

yields to

men

the

helm

;

shoots his thought, by hidden nerves.

Throughout the

solid realm.

The patient Daemon sits. With roses and a shroud He has his way, and deals his gifts,— ;

But ours

not allowed.

no churl nor

And

his viceroy

trifler. is

none,

Love-without-weakness,

Genius

And his will The seeds

sire

—

and son.

not thwarted

his

body bright,

his behest obey.

serveth the servant.

The

;

of land and sea

Are the atoms of

And

—

brave he loves amain

;

THE WORLD-SOUL He

kills

And

the cripple and the sick,

straight begins again

For gods

And

3etigfat hi

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

guJ s ,

weak aside ; him who scorns their charities thrust the

Their arms

When

fly

open wide.

the old world

sterile

And the ages are effete, He will from wrecks and sediment The fairer world complete. He forbids to despair ;

His cheeks mantle with mirth;

And Is

the unimagined good of

yeaning

Spring

still

When

men

at the birth.

makes spring

in the

mind

sixty years are told;

Love wakes anew this throbbing And we are never old Over the winter glaciers I see the summer glow.

hearty

And through the wild-piled snow-drift The warm rosebuds below.

; ;;

;;

THE SPHINX The

Sphinx

drowsy,

Her wings are furled Her ear is heavy,

She broods on the world.

"Who'll tell me my secret. The ages have kept ?

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

I awaited the seer

While they slumbered and

" The

fate

of the man-child.

The meaning of man Known fruit of the unknown ;

Dsedalian plan

;

Out of sleeping a waking. Out of waking a sleep Life death overtaking;

Deep underneath deep " Erect

as a

sunbeam,

Upspringeth the palm

The

elephant browses.

Undaunted and calm In beautiful motion

The

thrush plies his wings

slept:

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

THE SPHINX Kind ,

leaves of his covert,

Yoimsilence he

The

sings.

waves, unashamed,

In difference sweet, Play glad with the breezes,

Old

The

playfellows meet

journeying atoms.

Primordial wholes,

Firmly draw, firmly drive,

By *'

their animate poles.

Sea, earth, air, sound, silence.

Plant, quadruped, bird.

By one music enchanted. One deity stirred, Each the other adorning. Accompany still; Night

morning.

veileth the

The

vapor the

" The babe by

its

hill.

mother

Lies bathed in joy;

Glide

its

The

hours

sun

uncounted,â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

is its

toy;

Shines the peace of

Without cloud,

And In

the

sum of

all

being,

its

eyes

the world

soft miniature lies.

;;

;

THE SPHINX

" But man crouches and

blushes,

Absconds and conceals

He creepeth and peepeth, He palters and steals ;

Infirm, melancholy,

Jealous glancing around,

oaf, an accomplice.

poisons the ground.

" Out spoke the Beholding

great mother,

his fear

;

the sound of her accents

Cold shuddered the sphere '

—

""\

Aloud and

They

thy dirges to

me.

love lieth under pictures of time

fade in the light of

Their meaning sublime.

"The

fiend that

Is love

cheerfully,

Are pleasant songs

These

? '

answer

Say on, sweet Sphinx

Deep

head

child's

I heard a poet

—

with sadness and madness.

Has turned my /

Who has drugged my boy's cup ? Who has mixed my boy's bread ? Who,

—

man

harries

of the Best

;

THE SPHINX Yawns

the pit of the Dragon,

Lit by rays from the Blest.

The Lethe

of Nature

Can't trance him again.

Whose soul sees the perfect. Which his eyes seek in vain. " To

vision profounder,

Man's

spirit

must dive

His aye-rolling orb

At no

goal will arrive;

The heavens that now draw him With sweetness untold. Once found, for new heavens

—

He "

spurneth the old.

Pride ruined the angels.

Their shame them

Lurks the joy

that

restores

;

sweetest

In stings of remorse.

Have

I a lover

Who I

—

would he were nobler

Than *'

noble and free

to love

me.

Eterne alternation

Now And

follows,

- cry.

nomer

fools.

under pain, n the pools,

Under

pleasu^

blood

;

—

;

—

;

THE SPHINX

Love works

at the centre,

Heart-heaving alway

Forth speed the strong pulses

the borders of day.

" Dull Sphinx, Jove keep thy five Thy sight is growing blear; Rue, myrrh and cummin

Her muddy

The

for the Sphinx,

eyes to clear

" !

old Sphinx bit her thick lip,

Said, I

wfits

thy

Who

taught thee

spirit,

yoke-fellow

;

Of thine " Thou

eye I

art the

name ?

eyebeam.

unanswered question ;

Couldst see thy proper eye,

Alway

And

asketh, asketh

each answer

;

lie.

So take thy quest through nature. It

Ask

through thousand natures ply; on, thou clothed eternity

Time

the false reply."

se the

merry^ Sphinx,

crouched no more in stone; i.into purple cloud, >n the

moon

«Thefieny^"°^fl^'"^; Islove'^l°'^°'"'''*''5

;

; ;;

;

ALPHONSO OF CASTILE She flowed into a foaming wave

She stood Monadnoc's head.

Thorough a thousand

voices

Spoke the universal dame *'

Who Is

telleth

one of

master of

all I

meanings

am."

ALPHONSO OF CASTILE I,

Alphonso,

live

and learn,

Seeing Nature go astern.

Things

deteriorate in kind

Lemons run

to leaves

Meagre crop of

figs

and rind

and limes

Shorter days and harder times.

Flowering April cools and dies In the insufficient

Imps,

at high

skies.

midsummer,

blot

Half the sun's disk with a spot 'Twill not

now

avail to tan

Orange cheek or

skin of

man.

Roses bleach, the goats are dry, Lisbon quakes, the people cry.

Yon

pale,

scrawny

fisher fools.

Gaunt as bitterns in the pools. Are no brothers of my blood ; .

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

; ; ; ;

;

ALPHONSO OF CASTILE

They

discredit

Eyes of gods

Adamhood. ye must have seen,

O'er your ramparts as ye lean,

The

general debility

Of genius Mighty

the sterility

countermanded

projects

Rash ambition, brokenhanded

Puny man and scentless rose Tormenting Pan to double the Rebuild or ruin

either

dose.

fill

Of vital force the wasted rill, Or tumble all again in heap To weltering Chaos and to sleep. Say, Seigniors, are the old Niles dry.

Which

fed the veins of earth and sky.

That mortals miss the loyal heats. Which drove them erst to social feats j

Now,

to a savage selfng ss

Think nature With science

And vex

grown.

barely serves for one

poorly

mask

their hurt

the gods with question pert.

Immensely curious whether you Still

are rulers, or

Masters,

Masters, I

I, a

'm '11

Mildew ?

in pain

with you

be plain with you

palace of Castile,

king, for kings can feel.

; ;

;; ;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

; '

ALPHONSO OF CASTILE There

And

thoughts the matter

roll.

solve and oft resolve the w^hole.

And,

for I

styled Alphon's'e"the^Wise,

shall not fail for

sound advice.

Before ye want a drop of rain,

Hear

You

the sentiment of Spain.

have tried famine

no more

now

with a

full diet

Teach your

pupils

now

Ply us

try

with plenty.

For one sun supply us twenty. I have thought

thoroughly over,

State of hermit, state of lover

We must have society. We cannot spare variety. Hear you, then,

celestial fellows

Fits not to be overzealous

Steads not to

Nor wine

Men

work on

the clean jump,

nor brains perpetual pump.

and gods are too extense

Could you slacken and condense

Your rank overgrowths reduce Till your kinds

abound with juice

Earth, crowded, cries,

My counsel And

On Add

is, kill

nine in ten.

bestow the shares of the

Too many men all

remnant decimal.

their nine lives to this cat

Stuff their nine brains in one hat;

;;

;

MITHRIDATES

frame and forces square

Make

his

With

the labors he must dare

Thatch

With

his flesh,

his years

and even

the marble which he

rears.

There, growing slowly old at ease

faster

may, by warrant of

than his planted trees, his age.

In schemes of broader scope engage. So shall ye have a man of the sphere Fit to grace the solar year.

MITHRIDATES I

CANNOT

spare water or wine.

Tobacco-leaf, or poppy, or rose

From

the earth-poles to the Line,

All between that works or grows,

Every

thing^

kin of mine.

Give me agates

for

Give me cantharids

meat

to eat

From From

air

and ocean bring

all

zones and altitudes

From

all

natures, sharp and slimy,

Salt

and

Tree and

basalt, wild

;

foods.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

and tame

lichen, ape, sea-lion,

Bird, and reptile, be

game.

TO my

Ivy for

fillet

Hemlock

for

band

my hand ;

lull

me.

sherbet cull

the prussic juice to

Swing me

Blinding dog-wood in

And

;

in the upas boughs,

Vampyre-fanned, when

I carouse.

Too

and few,

long shut in

strait

[Thinly dieted on dew, I will use the world, and

As you

O O

sift it.

a thousand humors shift

doleful ghosts, all

it,

spin a cherry.

you

and goblins merry

virtues, methods, mights,

Means, appliances,

delights.

Reputed wrongs and braggart

Smug

routine,

and things allowed.

Minorities, things under cloud

Hither

Vein and

rights,

take me, use me, artery,

though ye

fill

me.

kilt

Set not thy foot on graves Hear what wine and roses say

;

The mountain chase, the summer waves, The crowded town, thy feet may well delay.

;;

:! ;

30 Set not thy foot

on graves

Nor seek to unwind the shroud Which charitable Time

And Nature

wrap the

have allowed errors of a sage sublime.

Set not thy foot

Care not

on graves

to strip the

his sad

dead

ornament,

His myrrh, and wine, and

rings.

His sheet of lead.

And

trophies buried

Go,

get

resolutely dig or dive.

Life

them where he earned them when

too short to waste

critic

peep or cynic bark,

Quarrel or reprimand

'T will soon be dark Up mind thine own God speed the mark !

aim, and

alive;

;;

;

DESTINY That you Or strong, You must

are fair or wise

vain.

or rich, or generous

add the untaught strain

That sheds beauty on the rose. There 's a melody born of melody,

Which

melts the world into a sea.

Toil could never compass

Art

height could never hit

its

came never out of wit But a music music-born Well may Jove and Juno

scorn.

Thy

fire

beauty,

Which

What

lack the

if it

me mad with sweet desire, it ? What the soldier's mail.

drives

boots

Unless he conquer and prevail

What

the goods thy pride which

all

If thou pine for another's gift

Alas! that one

None

Or Or

slight

thou lookest on

Thy heart shall

saith,

lift.

born in blight,

Victim of perpetual

When

his face.

Brother, go thy ways

ask thee what thou doest,

care a rush for what thou knowest. listen

when thou

repliest.

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

DESTINY

Or remember where thou liest. Or how thy supper is sodden;' And another is born

To make

the sun forgotten.

Surely he carries a talisman

Under Broad

And

his

tongue;

and strong

his shoulders are

eye

his

scornful.

Threatening and young. I hold

little

matter

Whether your jewel be of pure

rose

water,

diamond or a white,

But whether I care not

dazzle

how you

with

light.

are dressed.

In coarsest weeds or in the best;

Nor whether your name is base or brave Nor for the fashion of your behavior But whether you charm me. Bid

And One

bread feed and

dress

up Nature

thing

fire

warm me

your favor.

forever good

That one thing is Success, Dear to the Eumenides,

And

Who

to all the heavenly brood.

home, nor looks abroad, Carries the eagles, and masters the sword. bides at

;

GUY Mortal mixed

of middle clay,

Attempered to the night and day, Interchangeable with things.

Needs no amulets nor

Guy That

And

rings.

possessed the talisman things from

all

as,

him began

of old, Polycrates

Chained the sunshine and the breeze. So did Guy betimes discover Fortune was

his guard

In strange junctures,

and lover;

felt,

with awe.

His own symmetry with law

That no mixture could withstand

The

virtue of his lucky hand.

gold or jewel could not lose.

Nor

not receive his ample dues.

Fearless

Guy

did their

had never

weapons decompose.

Aimed

Healed

as fast the

him, the blushing blade

If on the foeman

Him

In the

foes.

wounds fell his

made.

gaze.

would straightway blind or craze. street, if

His eye the eye

he turned round, 't

was seeking found.

;;

GUY

34 It

seemed

his

Genius

discreet

Worked on the Maker's own receipt. And made each tide and element Stewards of stipend and of rent

common

that the

costly

had so sped

wine into

waters

his well.

his wise affairs

That he caught Nature Early or

late,

fell

in his snares.

the falling rain

Arrived in time to swell his grain

Stream could not so perversely wind

But corn of Guy's was there

The

found

speed his

And

To In

siroc

sails, to

its

to grind:

way.

dry his hay

the world's sun seemed to rise

drudge

all

day for

Guy

the wise.

his rich nurseries, timely skill

Strong crab with nobler blood did

The zephyr in his garden rolled From plum-trees vegetable gold And all the hours of the year With their own harvest honored There was no

Nor

freshet,

were.

but welcome came.

frost

nor midsummer flame.

Belonged to wind and world the

And

fill;

venture, and to

Guy

the

toil

oil.

; ;;!

;

HAMATREYA BuLKELEY, Hunt, Willard, Hosmer, Meriam, Possessed the land which rendered to their

Hay, corn,

hemp,

roots,

flax, apples,

Flint,

toil

wool and wood.

Each of

these landlords walked amidst his farm.

Saying,

How How

mine,

children's

my name's. my own trees on my hill

and

sweet the west wind sounds in graceful climb those shadows

I fancy these pure waters and the flags

Know And,

me,

as does

I affirm,

Where

And

are these

dog

actions

men ?

we sympathize

smack of the

soil.'

Asleep beneath their grounds

strangers, fond as they, their furrows plough.

Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys Earth-proud, proud of the earth which

Who

steer the plough, but

not theirs

cannot steer their

feet

Clear of the grave.

They added ridge to valley, brook to pond, And sighed for all that bounded their domain '

This

suits

for a pasture

;

that

must have

And The

misty lowland, where to go for peat.

'T is

good,

land

park

clay, lime, gravel, granite-ledge.

well,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

lies fairly to

when you have

the south.

crossed the sea and back.

;

HAMATREYA

find the sitfast acres

Ah Him !

the hot

owner

to his land, a

where you

sees not

Death,

left

—

EARTH-SONG

Mine and yours

;

Mine, not yours. Earth endures Stars abide

Shine

Old

—

down

in the old sea;

are the shores

;

But where are old men I

who have

Such have

never seen.

lawyer's deed

Ran

sure,

tail.

them, and to their heirs

Who

shall succeed,

Without

fail,

Forevermore.

seen much.

The In

Here

the land.

Shaggy with wood.

With

its

adds

lump of mould the more.

Hear what the Earth says

them.*

who

old valley.

Mound

and

But the

heritors

flood. ?

—

;

THE RHODORA Fled

like the flood's

The And

the kingdom.

foam.

lawyer, and the laws.

Clean swept herefrom.

They

called

Who

so controlled

theirs.

me;

Yet every one

Wished

to stay,

How am

and

gone,

I theirs.

If they cannot hold me,

But

When I

I hold

them

I heard the Earth-song

was no longer brave

My Like

avarice cooled

of the grave.

lust in the chill

THE RHODORA: ON BEING ASKED, WHENCE

THE FLOWER

In May, when sea-winds pierced our I

solitudes,

found the fresh Rhodora in the woods.

Spreading

its leafless

blooms

in a

damp nook.

please the desert and the sluggish brook.

The

purple petals, fallen in the pool.

Made

;

the black water with their beauty gay

Here might the red-bird come

his

plumes to cool.

court the flower that cheapens his array.

Rhodora

why

the sages ask thee

This charm

wasted on the earth and sky,

Tell them, dear, that

Then Beauty

Why

: !

THE HUMBLE-BEE

And

;

is its

eyes were

own

thou wert there,

rival

for seeing,

of the rose

I never thought to ask, I never

But, in

made

excuse for being

knew

simple ignorance, suppose

The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.

THE HUMBLE-BEE Burly, dozing humble-bee,

Where

thou

Let them

art

sail for

clime for me.

Porto Rique,

Far-ofF heats through seas to seek I will follow thee alone.

Thou

animated torrid-zone

Zigzag

steerer, desert cheerer.

chase thy waving lines

Let

Keep me

nearer,

thy hearer,

Singing over shrubs and vines.

Insect lover of the sun,

Joy of thy dominion

;

THE HUMBLE-BEE

Sailor of the atmosphere

Swimmer through Voyager of

light

the waves of air

and noon

Epicurean of June

Wait,

I prithee,

till

come

Within earshot of thy hum, 'All without

When With

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

martyrdom.

the south wind, in

May

days.

a net of shining haze

Silvers the horizon wall.

And

with softness touching

all,

Tints the human countenance

With

And

a color of romance,

infusing subtle heats,

Turns the sod to violets. Thou, in sunny solitudes. Rover of the underwoods.

The

green silence dost displace

With

thy mellow, breezy bass.

Hot midsummer's Sweet to

petted crone,

thy drowsy tone

Tells of countless sunny hours.

Long

days, and solid banks of flowers

Of gulfs

of sweetness without bound

In Indian wildernesses found;

Of Syrian

;

peace, immortal leisure.

Firmest cheer, and bird-like pleasure.

;

THE HUMBLE-BEE

Aught unsavory

Hath But

or unclean

insect never seen

violets

and bilberry

bells,

Maple-sap and daffodels. Grass with green

flag

half-mast high,

Succory to match the sky,

Columbine with horn of honey. Scented fern, and agrimony. Clover, catchfly, adder' s-tongue

And

brier-roses, dwelt

All beside was All was

Wiser

among;

unknown

waste.

picture as he passed.

far than

human

seer.

Yellow-breeched philosopher Seeing only what

is fair.

Sipping only what

Thou" dost mock Leave the

When

chafF,

sweet,

at fate

the fierce northwestern blast

Cools sea and land so

Thou

Woe

and care.

and take the wheat.

far

and

fast.

already slumberest deep;

and want thou canst outsleep

Want and woe, which torture Thy sleep makes ridiculous.

us,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; '

BERRYING '

May

be true what

Earth

had heard,

a howling wilderness,

Truculent with fraud and Said

I, strolling

And

along the river-side.

force,'

through the pastures,

Caught among the blackberry vines. Feeding on the Ethiops sweet, Pleasant fancies overtook me. I said,

What

influence

preferred.

Elect, to dreams thus beautiful

The

vines replied,

And

wisdom from our

didst

berries

thou deem

went

THE SNOW-STORM

Announced by

all

the trumpets of the sky.

Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the

fields,

Seems nowhere to alight the whited air Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven. :

And The

veils the

sled

Delayed,

and all

farm-house

the garden's end.

traveller stopped, the courier's feet

friends shut out, the housemates

sit

;

THE SNOW-STORM

Around

the radiant fireplace, enclosed

In a tumultuous privacy of storm.

Come

see the north wind's masonry.

Out of an unseen quarry evermore Furnished with

tile,

the fierce artificer

white bastions with projected roof

Curves

his

Round

every windward stake, or tree, or door.

Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild

fanciful, so savage,

work

nought cares he

For number or proportion. Mockingly,

coop or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths;

swan-like form invests the hidden thorn

Fills

up the farmer's lane from wall to wall,

Maugre

the farmer's sighs

;

and

at the

gate

tapering turret overtops the work.

And when Is all his

Leaves,

his

own,

when

mimic

hours are numbered, and the world retiring, as he

slow structures, stone by stone,

Built in an age, the

The

were not.

the sun appears, astonished Art

mad

frolic architecture

wind's night-work,

of the snow.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; :;

WOODNOTES I

When To

Who To

the pine tosses

the song of

its

birds

and

trees

Caesar of his leafy

waterfall tones,

the poet

who talks ? Rome,

home.

goes to the river-side,

Not hook nor

cones

speeds to the woodland walks

There

its

line hath

stands in the

Nor gun nor

meadows wide,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

scythe to see.

Sure some god his eye enchants:

What

he knows nobody wants.

In the wood he travels glad.

Without better fortune had. Melancholy without bad. Knowledge this man prizes best Seems fantastic to the rest Pondering shadows, colors, clouds, Grass-buds and caterpillar-shrouds,

Boughs on which the wild bees Tints that spot the

Why

settle,

violet's petal.

Nature loves the number

five,

: ;

;

WOODNOTES

And why Lover of

the star-form she repeats

Who

can

Or how

things alive,

all

Wonderer Wonderer

at all he

And

him what he

tell

meet

Coming and

such

meets,

chiefly at himself.

human

is ?

elf

past eternities?

knew, a

forest seer,

minstrel of the natural year.

Foreteller of the vernal ides,

Wise

harbinger of spheres and tides,

lover true,

Each joy

who knew by

heart

the mountain dales impart

seemed

plant in any secret place,

that

Nature could not

In quaking bog, on snowy

raise

hill.

Beneath the grass that shades the

rill.

Under the snow, between the rocks. In damp fields known to bird and fox. But he would come in the very hour It

opened if

And

in its virgin

bower.

sunbeam showed the

tell its

place.

long-descended race.

seemed as

seemed

the breezes brought him.

as if the sparrows taught

him

As if by secret sight he knew Where, in far fields, the orchis grew.

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ;

;;

WOODNOTES Many

haps

in the field

fall

Seldom seen by wishful eyes, But

all

please and

her shows did Nature yield,

win

this pilgrim wise.

He saw the partridge drum in the woods He heard the woodcock's evening hymn He found the tawny thrushes' broods And the shy hawk did wait for him What others did at distancs hear. And guessed within the thicket's gloom. ;

Was shown And

to this philosopher.

at his bidding

seemed to come. 3

In unploughed Maine he sought the lumberers' gang

Where from

hundred lakes young

trode the unplanted forest floor,

rivers sprang;

whereon

The all-seeing sun for ages hath not shone Where feeds the moose, and walks the surly And up the tall mast runs the woodpecker.

He saw

beneath dim

aisles, in

bear,

odorous beds.

The slight Linnaea hang its twin-born heads. And blessed the monument of the man of flowers. Which breathes his sweet fame through the northern bowers.

when in the grove, at intervals. With sudden roar the aged pine-tree falls, heard,

One

crash, the death-hymn of the perfect tree.

Declares the close of

its

green century.

;

; ;

;

WOODNOTES

Low

lies

whose creation went

the plant to

Sweet influence from every element;

Whose Whose

living towers the years conspired to build.

giddy top the morning loved to gild.

Through

roamed, content alike with

Where

(^*f^

these green tents, by eldest Nature dressed,

man and

beast.

darkness found him he lay glad at night;

There the red morning touched him with its light. Three moons his great heart him a hermit made, So long he roved

The And

timid

what foe

fear

To make

no step

And

ills

Not

so the wise

To Go

at will the

boundless shade.

concerns to ask their way.

come

and swamps can

in caves

until the event

as evils past

;

stray,

known,

bemoan.

no coward watch he keeps

spy what danger on his pathway creeps

where he

will, the

His hearth the earth,

man

wise

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

is at

his hall the

home.

azure dome;

Where his clear spirit leads him, there 's his road By God's own light illumined and foreshowed. 4

'Twas one of the charmed

When

the genius of

The wind may

alter

God

twenty ways,

tempest cannot blow

may blow

Or Or

south, east,

north,

it still is

days

doth flow;

still is

warm

clear

smells like a clover-farm;

; ;

;

; ;;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

WOODNOTES Or west, no The musing

thunder

fear.

peasant, lowly great.

Beside the forest water sate

The

rope-like pine-roots crosswise

Composed

grown

the network of his throne

The

wide lake, edged with sand and grass,

Was

burnished to a floor of glass,

Painted with shadows green and proud

Of the tree He was the

and of the cloud.

On him the To hiU and

sun looked more serene

heart of

all

the scene

cloud his face was known,

their own They knew by secret sympathy The public child of earth and sky. ' You ask,' he said, ' what guide It

seemed the likeness of

through trackless thickets

led.

Through thick-stemmed woodlands rough and I

found the water's bed.

The

watercourses were

I travelled grateful

guide

their side.

through their channel dry;

They

led

through the thicket damp.

Through brake and fern, the beavers' camp. Through beds of granite cut my road.

And The The And

their resistless friendship falling waters led

showed.

me.

foodful waters fed me,

brought

to the lowest land.

wide.

;

WOODNOTES

Unerring to the ocean sand.

The moss upon

Was The

pole-star

the forest bark

when

the night

wood

purple berries in the

Supplied

was dark 5

necessary food;

For Nature ever

faithful is

To such as trust her faithfulness. When the forest shall mislead me, When the night and morning lie. When sea and land refuse to feed me, 'T will be time enough to die Then will yet my mother yield

pillow in her greenest

field,

Nor

the June flowers scorn to cover

The

clay of their departed lover.'

WOODNOTES II

As sunbeams stream through

And So

waved

the pine-tree through

And fanned

the dreams

Whether

better, the gift or the

Come Quoth *

liberal space

nothing jostle or displace^

to me,'

the pine-tree,

the giver of honor.

thought

never brought.

donor

;; ;

;

WOODNOTES My

garden

the cloven rock,

And my manure the snow; And drifting sand-heaps feed my

stock.

In summer's scorching glow.

He is great who can live by me The rough and bearded forester Is better than the lord

God

the scrip and canister,

fills

Sin piles the loaded board.

The The The One

lord

the peasant that was,

peasant the lord that shall be lord

hay, the peasant grass.

dry, and one the living tree.

Who

by the ragged pine

liveth

Foundeth a heroic

Who

liveth in the palace hall

Waneth

My And '

fast

goes to

With

and spendeth

all.

savage haunts.

his chariot

and

his care;

twilight realm he disenchants. finds his prison there.

What

prizes the

Only what Sinew

The

line;

town and the tower ?

the pine-tree yields

that subdued the fields

wild-eyed boy,

hymn

who

in the

woods

Chants

his

Whom

the city's poisoning spleen

Made

not pale, or

to hills

fat,

and floods,

or lean

;

WOODNOTES

Whom Whom

the rain and the the

dawn and

wind purgeth,

the day-star urgeth,

In whose cheek the rose-leaf blusheth, In whose feet the lion rusheth. Iron arms, and iron mould,

That know not I give

billets to his boiler's throat.

And

I will

swim

float

And

the ancient sea

child to victory.

grant to dwellers with the pine

Dominion

Who

palm and

o'er the

vine.

leaves the pine-tree, leaves his friend.

Unnerves

Cut

And

dip

fear, fatigue, or cold.

rafters to his boat.

his strength, invites his end.

bough from

little

parent stem,

in thy porcelain vase

while each russet

Will swell and

But when

rise

gem

with wonted grace;

seeks enlarged supplies.

The orphan of the forest dies. Whoso walks in solitude And inhabiteth the wood. Choosing

light,

wave, rock and

bird,

Before the money-loving herd. Into that forester shall pass,

From

these companions,

Clean

shall he be, without, within,

From

the old adhering sin.

All

dissolving in the light

ill

power and

grace.

;

; ;; ;

;

WOODNOTES Of his

triumphant piercing sight:

Not vain, Not mad,

sour, nor frivolous athirst,

nor garrulous

Grave, chaste, contented, though

And

him

Shall

all

other

men

the light of star and

fall

retired,

desired.

with purer radiance

moon down

All constellations of the sky

Shed

their virtue

Him

Nature giveth

through

his eye.

for defence

His formidable innocence

The mounting

sap, the shells, the sea,

All spheres,

stones, his helpers be

shall

all

meet the speeding year.

Without

wailing, without fear

be happy in his love.

shall

Like to

like shall joyful

shall

prove

be happy whilst he wooes.

Muse-born, a daughter of the Muse.

But

And

with gold she bind her hair.

deck her breast with diamond.

Take off thine eyes, thy heart forbear. Though thou lie alone on the ground. *

Heed

the old oracles.

Ponder my spells Song wakes in my pinnacles When the wind swells, Soundeth the prophetic wind,

WOODNOTES

The shadows shake on the rock behind, And the countless leaves of the pine are Tuned to the lay the wood-god sings. Hearken

Hearken

If thou wouldst

know

strings

the mystic song

Chanted when the sphere was young. Aloft, abroad, the paean swells

O O

wise

man man

;

hear'st thou half

hear'st thou the least part ?

tells ?

the chronicle of art.

the open ear

sings

Sweet the genesis of things.

Of tendency through endless ages. Of star-dust, and star-pilgrimages. Of rounded worlds, of space and time. Of the old flood's subsiding slime. Of chemic matter, force and form. Of poles and powers, cold, wet, and warm The

rushing metamorphosis

Dissolving

all

that fixture

is.

Melts things that be to things that seem.

And solid nature to a dream. O, listen to the undersong, The ever old, the ever young And,

The

far

;

within those cadent pauses.

chorus of the ancient Causes

Delights the dreadful Destiny

fling his voice into the tree.

And

shock thy weak ear with a note

;

WOODNOTES

Breathed from the everlasting throat.

In music he repeats the pang

Whence

the fair flock of Nature sprang.

mortal

thy ears are stones

These echoes

are laden with tones

Which only the Thou canst not

pure can hear; catch what they recite

Of Fate and Will, of Want and Of man to come, of human life. Of Death and Fortune, Growth Once '

Put off thy years, wash

and

again the pine-tree sung

Speak not thy speech

Right,

Strife.'

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

boughs among

in the breeze

;

hours are peaceful centuries.

Talk no more with feeble tongue No more the fool of space and time, Come weave with mine a nobler rhyme.

Only thy Americans Can read thy line, can meet

thy glance,

the runes that I rehearse

But Understands the universe The least breath my boughs which tossed ;

Brings again the Pentecost;

every soul resounding clear

In a voice of solemn cheer,

I not thine

And

they reply,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Are not these thine " Forever mine "

branches speak Italian,

" ?

WOODNOTES

German, Basque, Castilian, Mountain speech to Highlanders, Ocean tongues to islanders. To Fin and Lap and swart Malay, English,

each his bosom-secret say.

Come learn with me the fatal song Which knits the world in music strong. '

Come

lift

Of things

thine eyes to lofty rhymes.

with things, of times with times.

Primal chimes of sun and shade,

Of sound The

and echo,

man and

maid.

land reflected in the flood,

Body with shadow still pursued. For Nature beats in perfect tune. And rounds with rhyme her every rune. Whether she work in land or sea.

Or hide underground her alchemy. Thou canst not wave thy staff in air. Or dip thy paddle in the lake, But it carves the bow of beauty there. And the ripples in rhymes the oar forsake. The wood is wiser far than thou The wood and wave each other know ;

Not

unrelated, unafEed,

But

to each thought

and thing

allied.

Is perfect Nature's every part.

Rooted

in the

mighty Heart,

ut thou, poor child

unbound, unrhymed.

;

—

WOODNOTES Whence

earnest thou, misplaced, mistimed.

Whence,

thou orphan and defrauded

marauded

Is thy land peeled, thy realm

Who

thee divorced, deceived and left

Thee of

And And Thy Thy For

thy faith

who

hath bereft.

torn the ensigns from thy brow.

sunk the immortal eye so low

cheek too white, thy form too slender. gait too slow, thy habits tender

man

royal

The And

;

— they

thee confess

from the wilderness,

exile

where health with health agrees,

hills

the wise soul expels disease.

Hark

in thy ear I will tell the sign

By which

When

thy hurt thou may'st divine.

thou shalt climb the mountain

see the wide shore

thee the horizon shall express

from thy

skiff.

But emptiness on emptiness There lives no man of Nature's worth In the

And

circle

Dire and

On On And

satirical,

clucking hens and prating fools. thieves,

on drudges and on

dolls.

thou shalt say to the Most High,

« Godhead

And

of the earth

to thine eye the vast skies fall.

fate

all this

astronomy.

and practice and invention,

Strong art and beautiful pretension.

cliff.

;;

;

WOODNOTES

This radiant pomp of sun and star, Throes that were, and worlds that are, Behold It

were

cannot be,

Surely

And

now

earth's

in vain

—

;

I will look again.

will the curtain rise, fit

tenant

But the curtain doth

And

and

in vain

—

surprise

;

—

not rise.

Nature has miscarried wholly

Into failure, into folly." "*

Alas

thine

the bankruptcy.

Blessed Nature so to see.

Come,

And

lay thee in

heal the hurts

I see thee in the I will

soothing shade,

which

sin has

crowd alone

made.

;

be thy companion.

Quit thy friends

And

build to

as the dead in

them

a final

doom,

tomb;

Let the starred shade that nightly Still

celebrate their funerals.

And

the bell of beetle and of bee

falls

Knell their melodious memory.

Behind thee leave thy merchandise,

Thy And

churches and thy charities leave thy peacock wit behind

Enough for thee the primal mind That flows in streams, that breathes Leave

God

all

thy pedant lore apart

hid the whole world in thy heart.

wind

;;

;

—

WOODNOTES Love shuns

the sage, the child

57 it

crowns,

them who all renounce. The rain comes when the wind calls The river knows the way to the sea; Gives

all

Without

a pilot

Blessing

The Its

all

runs and

lands with

falls.

charity

foams to

sea tosses and

way up

its

to the cloud and

find

wind

The shadow sits close to the flying ball; The date fails not on the palm-tree tall; And thou, go burn thy wormy pages,

—

Shalt outsee seers, and outwit sages.

Oft

didst

find

thou thread the woods in vain

what

bird had piped the strain:

Seek not, and the

little

eremite

Flies gayly forth and sings in sight.

Hearken once more

mundane

I will

tell

thee the

Older

I than thy

Change Hitherto

And

may, but

all

lore.

numbers wot,

I pass not.

things fast abide,

anchored in the tempest

ride.

Trenchant time behoves to hurry All to yean and

all

to bury

All the forms are fugitive.

But the substances

Ever

survive.

fresh the broad creation,

divine improvisation,

—

;

;;

WOODNOTES

From

the heart of

God

proceeds,

single will, a million deeds.

Once slept the world an egg of stone, And pulse, and sound, and light was none And God said, " Throb " and there was motion And the vast mass became vast ocean. Onward and on, the eternal Pan, !

Who

layeth the world's incessant plan,

Halteth never in one shape.

But forever doth escape. Like wave or flame, into new forms I

Of gem, I, that

and

air,

to-day

of plants, and worms. a pine,

Yesterday was a bundle of grass.

free

Pouring of

his

libertine.

power the wine

every age, to every race

Unto

and

every race and age

emptieth the beverage;

Unto each, and unto Maker and original.

The And

world

all.

the ring of his spells,

the play of his miracles.

As he giveth to all to drink, Thus or thus they are and think. With one drop sheds form and feature; With the next a special nature

The The

third adds heat's indulgent spark

fourth gives light

which

eats the dark

; ;

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

; ;;

WOODNOTES Into the

And

fifth

himself he

conscious

Law

flings.

King of kings.

As the bee through the garden ranges. From world to world the godhead changes; As the sheep go feeding in the waste. From form to form He maketh haste; This vault which glows immense with Is the inn where he lodges for a night.

light

What recks such Traveller if the bowers Which bloom and fade like meadow flowerS'

bunch of fragrant

lilies

the stars of eternity

be,

Alike to him the better, the worse,

The glowing angel, the outcast corse. Thou metest him by centuries, And lo he passes like the breeze Thou seek' St in globe and galaxy. He hides in pure transparency Thou askest in fountains and in fires, !

He He He He He

the essence that inquires.

the axis of the star

the sparkle of the spar

the heart of every creature

the meaning of each feature

^nd

his

Than

mind

all it

the sky.

holds more deep, more high.'

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

; ;

;

MONADNOC Thousand minstrels woke ' Our music 's in the hills

within me, ; '

Gayest pictures rose to win me. Leopard-colored '

Up To

rills.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; If thou knew'st who

twilight parks of beech

calls

and pine.

High over the river intervals, Above the ploughman's highest Over the owner's farthest walls

where the

line, !

airy citadel

O'erlooks the surging landscape's swell

Let not unto the stones the

Day

Her lily and rose, her sea and land Read the celestial sign

display.

the south answers to the north

Bookworm, break

this sloth

urbane

greater spirit bids thee forth

Than the gray dreams which thee Mark how the climbing Oreads Beckon thee

to their arcades

Youth,

moment

for a

Teach thy Ere yet

free as they.

feet to feel the

ground,

arrives the wintry day

When Time

thy feet has bound.

detain.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

; ;

;

MONADNOC Take

the bounty of thy birth,

Taste the lordship of the I heard,

and

earth.'

I obeyed,

Assured that he who made the claim,

Well known, but

Was

loving^ not

a. joarne.

not to be gainsaid.

Ere yet the summoning voice was I turned to Cheshire's

From

haughty

still,

hill.

the fixed cone the cloud-rack flowed

Like ample banner flung abroad

all

the dwellers in the plains

Round about, a hundred miles. With salutation to the sea and

to the bordering

isles.

own

In his

loom's garment dressed,

his proper

bounty blessed.

Fast abides this constant giver.

many

Pouring

a cheerful river;

far eyes, an

aerial isle

Unploughed, which

Which morn and

finer spirits pile.

crimson evening paint

For bard, for lover and for saint An eyemark and the country's core, Inspirer, prophet evermore Pillar

So It

which God

that

men

should be their

And mix

aloft

might

itself

had

set

not forget;

life's

ornament,

with each event

;

MONADNOC

Gauge and calendar and

dial.

Weatherglass and chemic phial.

Garden of

berries, perch

of birds,

Pasture of pool-haunting herds.

Graced by each change of sum untold, Earth-baking heat, stone-cleaving cold. T

The Titan

heeds his sky-affairs.

Rich rents and wide

alliance shares

Mysteries of color daily laid

By morn and eve in light and shade And sv^eet varieties of chance. And the mystic seasons' dance And thief-like step of liberal hours Thawing snow-drift into flowers. O, wondrous craft of plant and stone By eldest science wrought and shown '

Happy,'

I said,

whose home

here

Fair fortunes to the mountaineer

Boon Nature to his poorest shed Has royal pleasure-grounds outspread.' Intent, I searched the region round.

And

Woe Is

low hut the dweller found

for

hope's downfall

yonder squalid peasant

all

That this proud nursery could breed For God's vicegerency and stead ?

Time

out of mind, this forge of ores

;

:; ;}

;;

;

MONADNOC Quarry of

Old

spars in

mountain pores

cradle, hunting-ground

Of wolf and

and bier

and deer

otter, bear

Well-built abode of

Tower

many

a race

of observance searching space ;

Fac tory of river and of rain Link in the Alps' globe-girding chain

By million changes skilled to tell What in the Eternal standeth well, And what obedient Nature can;

—

Is this colossal talisman

Kindly to plant and blood and kind.

But speechless

to the master's

mind?

I thought to find the patriots

whom

the stock of freedom roots

myself I oft recount

—

Tales of many a famous mount,

Wales, Scotland, Uri, Hungary's Bards, Roys, Scanderbegs and

And

think

how Nature

dells

TeUs

in these

towers

Uplifted shall condense her powers,

And

lifting

Where

man

to the blue deep

stars their perfect courses keep.

Like wise preceptor, lure

his eye

sound the science of the sky.

And

carry learning to

Of untried The

its

height

power and sane

delight

Indian cheer, the frosty skies,

Rear purer

wits, inventive eyes,

—

;

MONADNOC

64 Eyes

where none be.

that frame cities

And And

hands that stablish what these see by the moral of his place

Hint summits of heroic grace

;

Man in these crags a fastness find To fight pollution of the mind In the wide thaw and ooze of wrong. Adhere

The

like this

insanity of

With But

stem

simpleness for stratagem.

mould

the brave old

And

foundation strong,

towns

end

in churls the

broke.

mountain folk

In tavern cheer and tavern joke,

Sink,

Hide

in thy skies,

mountain,

in the

swamp

sovereign lamp

Perish like leaves, the highland breed

sire survive,

Soft

let

no son succeed

not the offended

muse

Toil's hard hap with scorn accuse.

Many Many

hamlets sought I then.

farms of mountain men.

Rallying round a parish steeple Nestle

warm

the highland people.

Coarse and boisterous, yet mild. Strong as giant, slow as child.

Sweat and season are

their arts,

Their talismans are ploughs and carts;

And

well the youngest can

command

;

: ;

: :;

MONADNOC Honey from the frozen land With cloverheads the swamp

adorn,

Change the running sand to corn; For wolf and fox, bring lowing herds,

And for cold Weave wood

mosses, cream and curds to canisters and mats

Drain sweet maple juice

bird

From

in vats.

safe that cuts the air

their rifle or their snare

fish, in river

or in lake.

But their long hands it thence will take Whilst the country's flinty face. Like wax, their fashioning skill betrays,

fill

the hollows, sink the hills.

Bridge gulfs, drain swamps, build dams and mills,

And

fit

the bleak and howling waste

For homes of I

I f

virtue, sense

The World-soul knows

his

and

taste.

own

affair,

Forelooking,

when

he would prepare

For the next

ages,

men

Well embodied, well

of mould

ensouled.

cools the present's fiery glow.

Sets the life-pulse strong but slow Bitter

winds and

fasts austere

His quarantines and grottoes, where

He slowly cures decrepit flesh. And brings it infantile and fresh. Toil and tempest are the toys

And games IX

to breathe his stalwart boys

;

MONADNOC

They

bide their time, and well can prove,

If need were, their line

from Jove

Of the

same

whereof the sun

that

stuff,

and so allayed. is

made,

And of the fibre, quick and strong. Whose throbs are love, whose thrills

Now

in sordid

In dulness

now

weeds they

their secret

are song.

sleep.

keep

Yet, will you learn our ancient speech,

These the masters who can

teach.

Fourscore or a hundred words All their vocal muse affords

But they turn them

in a fashion

Past clerks' or statesmen's art or passion. I can spare the college bell.

And

the learned lecture, well

Spare the clergy and Institutes

For

libraries.

and dictionaries,

that hardy English root

Thrives here, unvalued, underfoot.

Rude

poets of the tavern hearth.

Squandering your unquoted mirth.

Which

keeps the ground and never soars,

While Jake retorts and Reuben roars; Scoff of yeoman strong and stark, Goes like bullet to its mark;

MONADNOC While Never

balk the waiting ear.

the

O'er the

Seemed

Was But

summit

floor

as I stood.

of plain and flood

me, the towering

not altogether

hill

still,

a quiet sense conveyed

If I ertjiot, thus

the solid curse and jeer

said

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Many feet in summer seek, Oft, my far-appearing peak; In the dreaded winter time,

None

save dappling shadows climb,

Under clouds, my lonely head. Old as the sun, old almost as the shade;

And

comest thou

new snow,

see strange forests and

And And

tread uplifted land

leavest thou thy lowland race.

Here amid clouds

to stand

And wouldst be my companion Where I gaze, and still shall gaze. Through tempering

When

nights and flashing days,

forests fall, and man Over tribes and over times, At the burning Lyre,

Nearing me,

gone,

;

;;

MONADNOC

With its In many '

stars

of northern

a thousand years

if thou know The gamut old of Pan, And how the hills began, The frank blessings of the hill

Gentle pilgrim,

Fall on thee, as

fire,

fall

Let him heed

who

Enchantment

fixed

they

will.

can and will

here

stand the hurts of time, until

In mightier chant

disappear.

If thou trowest

How

the chemic eddies play,

Pole to pole, and what they say

And

that these gray crags

Not on

crags are hung,

But beads are of a rosary

prayer and music strung

And, credulous, through the Seest the smile of

Can

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

thy style-discerning eye

The hidden-working

Who

builds, yet

With hammer Knowest thou

granite seeming,

Reason beaming ; Builder spy,

makes no

chips,

din,

soft as snowflake's flight this

pilgrim, wandering not amiss

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

MONADNOC

my rocks lie light. And soon my cone will spin. Already

For the world was built in order. And the atoms march in tune;

Rhyme the pipe, and Time the warder. The sun obeys them and the moon. Orb and atom forth they prance,

When None

When

they hear from far the rune so

backward

in the troop.

the music and the dance

Reach his place and circumstance, But knows the sun-creating sound. And, though a pyramid, will bound. *

Monadnoc

Tall and good

mountain strong.

kind among;

But well I know, no mountain can, Zion or Meru, measure with man. For it is on zodiacs writ, I

Adamant is soft to wit And when the greater comes With my secret in his brain, I shall pass, as glides

Daily over

hill

again

shadow

and meadow.

Through all Well I hear

time, in light, in

gloom

the approaching feet

;;

MONADNOC

the flinty pathway beat

Of him Of him

cometh, and

that

daily load

As Which never doth

Whose

shall

come

wEo'sIiall as lightly bear

this

of woods and streams.

round sky-cleaving boat strains

its

rocky beams

timbers, as they silent float,

Alps and Caucasus uprear.

And And

the long Alleghanies here. all

town-sprinkled lands that be.

Sailing through stars with all their history.

'Every morn See

New

lift

head,

England underspread.

South from Saint Lawrence to the Sound,

From

Katskill east to the sea-bound.

Anchored

fast for

I await the bard

Who,

many an

age,

and sage.

in large thoughts, like fair pearl-seed.

Monadnoc like a bead. Comes that cheerful troubadour. This mound shall throb his face before. As when, with inward fires and pain. Shall string

It rose a

bubble from the plain.

Whenjie cometh, I shall shed. From this wellspring in my head. Fountain-drop of spicier worth

Than

all

There

's fruit

vintage of the earth.

upon

barren

soil

—— ;;

MONADNOC Costlier far than wine or

There's

oil.

a berry blue and gold,

Autumn-ripe,

its

juices hold

Sparta's stoutness, Bethlehem's heart,

Asia's rancor, Athens' art,

Slowsure Britain's secular might.

And

the

German's inward

I will give^

sight.

son")to eat

Best of Pan's immortal meat.

Bread to

and juice to drain

eat,

So the coinage of

his brain

Shall not be forms of stars, but stars,

Nor

pictures pale, but Jove

Who Oft

and Mars.

comes, but not of that race bred daily climb

last

specular head.

morning wreathes

Fled the

scarf.

plumule of the Dark,

Pants up hither the spruce clerk

From South Cove and I take

him up

City Wharf.

rugged

sides.

Half-repentant, scant of breath,

Bead-eyes

—

granite chaos show.

And my midsummer snow: Open the daunting map beneath, All his county, sea and land.

Dwarfed His day's

measure of

his

hand

ride is a furlong space,

His city-tops a glimmering haze. I plant his eyes

on the sky-hoop bounding;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

MONADNOC

" See there the grim gray rounding

Of the

bullet of the earth

Whereon ye Tumbling

sail.

steep

In the uncontinented deep."

looks on that, and he turns pale.

'T is even

so, this treacherous kite.

Farm-furrowed, town-incrusted sphere, Thoughtless of

its

anxious freight.

Plunges eyeless on forever

And

he, poor parasite.

Cooped

in a ship

Who

the captain he know^s not.

he cannot

steer,

Port or pilot trows not,

Risk or ruin he must share. I scowl

on him with

With my I

cloud.

north wind chill his blood

lame him, clattering down the rocks

And

to live he

Then,

him down

into his dapper

town.

chatter, frightened, to his clan

And As

in fear.

at last, I let

Once more

forget

he can.'

in the old poetic

fame

The gods are blind and lame. And the simular despite Betrays the more abounding might,

call

not waste that barren cone

;

—

;

MONADNOC Above

the floral zone,

Where

forests starve

It is

pure use

What

;

—

sheaves like those which here

glean

and bind

Of a

celestial

Ages

are thy days,

Ceres and the

Muse ?

r Thou grand affi rmer of the And type of permanence

present tense,

Firm ensign of the fatal Being, these coward shapes of joy and That will not bide the seeing

Amid

Hither

Our And

grief.

bring

insect miseries to thy rocks

the

whole

flight,

with folded wing.

Vanish, and end their murmuring,

Vanish beside these dedicated blocks,

Which who

can

Spoils of a front

tell

what mason

none need

Replacing frieze and architrave

Where

Of the i^

;

—

flowers each stone rosette and metope

brave Still is

laid

restore.

the haughty pile erect old building Intellect.

Complement of human Holding us

vantage

kind.

still.

;

MONADNOC

Our sumptuous

indigence,

O barren mound, thy We fool and prate

plenties

fill

;

Thou

art silent

and sedate.

myriad kinds and times one sense

The

constant mountain doth dispense

Shedding on

all its

snows and

leaves,

One joy it joys, one grief it grieves. Thou seest, O watchman tall, Our towns and races grow and fall, And imagest the stable good For which we

all

our lifetime grope,

In shifting form the formless mind.

And though

Thou,

the substance us elude.

in thee the

shadow

find.

our astronomy

opaker

star.

Seen haply from

afar.

Above the horizon's hoop, A moment, by the railway troop. As o'er some bolder height they speed,

By By By

circumspect ambition. errant gain. feasters

and the frivolous,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Recallest us.

And

makest^sane.

(Mute

orator_Li well skilled to plead,

And send conviction without phrase. Thou dost succor and remede

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

FABLE The And

shortness of our days,

promise, on thy Founder's truth.

Long morrow

to this mortal youth.

FABLE The Had And Bun 'You But

mountain and the

the former called the latter

Little Prig

are doubtless very big;

of things and weather

Must be taken

To make

replied,

all sorts

And And

squirrel

a quarrel.

in together,

up a year

a sphere. I

think

occupy

no disgrace place.

If I 'm not so large as you.

You And I

'11

are not so small as I,

not half so spry. not deny you

make

very pretty squirrel track;

Talents

differ;

all is

well and wisely put;

If I cannot carry forests on

Neither can you crack a nut.'

back.

ODE INSCRIBED TO W. H. CHANNING

Though loath to grieve The evil time's sole patriot, I

cannot leave

honied thought

For the

Or If

priest's cant,

statesman's rant.

refuse

study for their politique,

Which at the best The angry Muse Puts confusion in

But who

trick,

brain.

he that prates

Of the culture of mankind, Of better arts and life ?

Go, blindworm,

go,

Behold the famous States Harrying Mexico

With

rifle

Or who, Dare

and with knife

with accent bolder.

praise the freedom-loving

mountaineer?

found by

ODE thee, O rushing

Contoocook

And in thy valleys, Agiochook The jackals of the negro-holder. The God who made New Hampshire Taunted

With

the lofty land

little

— oak: —

men

;

Small bat and wren

House

in the

If earth-fire cleave

The The

upheaved land, and bury the

Virtue palters

Freedom

;

Right

hence

;

praised, but hid;

Funeral eloquence Rattles the coiEn-lid.

What

boots thy zeal,

glowing friend.

That would indignant rend

The

folk.

southern crocodile would grieve.

northland from the south

Wherefore

what good end

Boston Bay and Bunker Hill

Would

serve things

Things

are of the snake.

still;

—

The horseman serves the horse. The neatherd serves the neat.

;

ODE

The merchant serves the purse. The eater serves his meat 'T

the day of the chattel,

Web

weave, and corn to grind

Things are

And

ride

There

Not

Law The But

And 'T

mankind.

are

two laws

reconciled, for

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

discrete.

man, and law

last builds it

;

in the saddle,

for thing;

town and

fleet.

runs wild.

doth the

is fit

man

unking.

the forest fall.

The steep be graded, The mountain tunnelled. The sand shaded. The orchard planted, The glebe tilled. The prairie granted, The steamer built. Let.

man

serve law for

Live for friendship,

For

truth's

The

state

man

;

live for love.

and harmony's behoof;

may follow how As Olympus follows Jove.

can,

;

ODE

Yet do not I implore

The

wrinkled shopman to

Nor Ask

bid the unwilling senator

sounding woods,

votes of thrushes in the solitudes.

—

work ; Foolish hands may mix and mar; Every one

to his chosen

Wise and sure the issues Round they roll till dark

are. is

Sex to sex, and even to odd

The

light, ;

—

over-god

Who Who

marries Right to Might, peoples, unpeoples,

He who

exterminates

Races by stronger

races,

Black by white faces,

Knows Out of

—

f '

honey

to bring

the lion

—

;

Grafts gentlest scion

pirate

and Turk.

The Cossack Like stolen

Her Her

eats Poland,

fruit

last

noble

last

poet mute:

ruined.

Straight, into double

band

The

victors divide

Half

for freedom strike and stand;

The

astonished

Muse

—

finds thousands at her side.

;

ASTRtEA Each

the herald

who wrote his own

His rank, and quartered

There

no king nor sovereign

coat. state

That can fix a hero's rate Each to all is venerable, Cap-a-pie invulnerable, Until he write, where

all

eyes rest.

Slave or master on his breast. I

saw men go up and down,

In the country and the town,

With '

this tablet

Nor

their neck,

to learned jurist's chair

But they hurry

To '

Judgment and a judge we seek.' Not to monarchs they repair. ;

to their peers.

their kinsfolk

and their dears

Louder than with speech they pray, What am I ? companion, say.'

And

the friend not hesitates

assign just place and mates

Answers not

Yet

word or

;

letter.

understood the better

Each

;

to each a looking-glass.

Reflects his figure that doth pass.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

ASTR^A

Every wayfarer he meets

What What

himself declared repeats.

himself confessed records.

Sentences him in his words

The And

form

his

own

corporal form,

his thought the penal worm. Yet shine forever virgin minds. Loved by stars and purest winds. Which, o'er passion throned sedate.

Have not hazarded

their state

Disconcert the searching spy,

Rendering to a curious eye

The

durance of a granite ledge.

those

who gaze from

the sea's edge

It is there for benefit

It is there for

There

And It

purging light

for purifying storms

its

depths reflect

all

;

forms

cannot parley with the mean,

Pure by impure

For

there

Lone mountain But

not seen.

no sequestered

grot.

tarn, or isle forgot.

Justice, journeying in the sphere.

Daily stoops to harbor there.

—

£tienne de la bo£ce I

SERVE you not,

Shadowlike, o'er

And bend my

follow.

and hollow

;

fancy to your leading,

All too nimble for

When

you

hill

the pilgrimage

treading. is

done.

And we've the landscape overrun, I am bitter, vacant, thwarted. And your heart is unsupported. Vainly valiant, you have missed

The manhood Its

that should yours resist,—

complement

;

but

if I

could.

In severe or cordial mood,

Lead you

rightly to

altar.

Where the wisest Muses falter. And worship that world-warming spark Which dazzles me in midnight dark. Equalizing small and large,

While

the soul

Till the poor

doth surcharge,

wealthy grown,

—

And the hermit never alone, The traveller and the road seem one With the errand to be done, That were a man's and lover's part. That were Freedom's whitest chart.

COMPENSATION

Why

should I keep holiday

When

Why

other

men have none ?

but because,

I sit

when

these are gay,

and mourn alone

And why, when

mirth unseals

dumb

Should mine alone be

late I

spoke to

And now

their

all

tongues.

silent throngs,

hour

come.

FORBEARANCE Hast thou named

all

the birds without a gun

Loved the wood-rose, and left it on its stalk ? At rich men's tables eaten bread and pulse ? Unarmed, faced danger with a heart of trust ?

And loved In man or Nobility

so well a high behavior.

maid, that thou from speech refrained,

more nobly

friend,

to repay

and teach me

to be thine

;

THE PARK The prosperous and beautiful To me seem not to wear The yoke of conscience masterful, Which galls me everywhere. I

cannot shake off the god

On my I look at

neck he makes

;

his seat

face in the glass,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

eyes his eyeballs meet.

Enchanters

Your

Enchantresses

makes you seem wise

gold

The morning More

;

mist within your grounds

proudly

rolls,

softly lies.

Yet spake yon purple mountain, Yet said yon ancient wood. That Night or Day, that Love or CKpie, Leads

all

souls to the

Good.

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;;

;

FORERUNNERS Long

followed happy guides,

I could never reach their sides

Their step

forth, and, ere the

day

Breaks up their leaguer, and away.

Keen my

sense,

Right good-will

my heart was young. my sinews strung.

But no speed of mine

To On

and away,

Make

trails.

their hasting feet

the morning proud and sweet

Flowers they strew,

avails

hunt upon their shining

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

catch the scent

tone of silver instrument

Leaves on the wind melodious trace

Yet

I could

eastern hills I see their smokes,

Mixed with I met many

Who

never see their face.

mist by distant lochs. travellers

the road had surely kept;

They saw These

not

had crossed

Some had

fine revellers,

them while they

heard their

fair report.

In the country or the court. Fleetest couriers alive

Never yet could once

arrive,

slept.

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

SURSUM CORDA

As they went or they returned, At the house where these sojourned. Sometimes

Though

their strong speed they slacken.

they are not overtaken

In sleep their jubilant troop

near,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

I tuneful voices overhear

may

wood or waste, At unawares 't is come and past. Their near camp my spirit knows It

By I

be in

signs gracious as rainbows.

thenceforward and long after

Listen for their harp-like laughter,

And

carry in

heart, for days.

Peace that hallows rudest ways.

SURSUM CORDA Seek not

the spirit,

if it

hide

Inexorable to thy zeal

Trembler, do not whine and chide Art thou not also

real

Stoop not then to poor excuse

Turn on

the accuser roundly; say,

Here am

here will

abide

Forever to myself soothfast

thou, sweet Heaven, or at thy pleasure stay

Already Heaven with thee

For only

its lot

can absolutely deal.

has cast.

!;;

ODE TO BEAUTY Who The Too

gave thee,

Beauty,

keys of this breast,

Of blest

and unblest

when in lapsed Thee knew I of old Say,

Or what was For which

When

first

I found

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

credulous lover

ages ?

the service

was

my thy

sold

eyes

saw

thee,

thrall.

magical drawings.

Sweet tyrant of

all

I drank at thy fountain

False waters of thirst

Thou Thou

Thy

intimate stranger. latest

and

first

dangerous glances

Make women of men New-born, we are melting Into nature again.

Lavish, lavish promiser.

Nigh persuading gods to err Guest of million painted forms.

;

ODE TO BEAUTY Which in turn thy glory warms The frailest leaf, the mossy bark, The acorn's cup, the raindrop's arc, The swinging spider's silver line, The ruby of the drop of wine. The shining pebble of the pond. Thou inscribest with a bond. In thy momentary play,

Would

bankrupt nature to repay.

Ah, what

avails

hide or to shun

Whom

the Infinite

Hath granted

The heaven

One

his throne

high over

Is the deep's lover

The

sun and sea.

Informed by thee.

me run And draw me on, Yet fly me still. Before

As Fate

To me Is

Was

refuses

the heart Fate for

that

chooses.

opulent soul

mingled from the generous whole ;

Sea-valleys and the deep of skies

Furnished several supplies;

And the sands whereof I 'm made Draw me to them, self-betrayed ?

;

ODE TO BEAUTY I turn the

Which

proud portfolio

holds the grand designs

Of Salvator, And

of Guercino,

Piranesi's lines.

I hear the lofty paeans

Of the

Who And

masters of the shell.

heard the starry music

recount the numbers well

Olympian bards who sung Divine Ideas below.

Which always find us young And always keep us so. Oft, in streets or humblest places, I detect far-wandered graces,

Which, from Eden wide astray, In lowly homes have lost their way.

Thee

gliding through the sea of form,

Like the lightning through the storm.

Somewhat not Somewhat not

No No

to be possessed.

to be caressed,

feet so fleet could ever find.

perfect

Thou

form could ever bind.

eternal fugitive.

Hovering over

Quick and

all that live.

skilful to inspire

Sweet, extravagant desire. Starry space and lily-bell Filling with thy roseate smell.

;;

GIVE ALL

Wilt not give the

Of the

; ;

;

TO LOVE

lips to taste

nectar which thou hast.

All that

good and great with thee

Works in close conspiracy Thou hast bribed the dark and

;

lonely

report thy features only,

And

the cold and purple

morning

Itself with thoughts of thee adorning

The

leafy dell, the city mart,

Equal trophies of thine

art

E'en the flowing azure

air

Thou

hast touched for

And,

languish into dreams,

if I

Again

despair;

meet the ardent beams.

Queen of

things

not die

I dare

In Being's deeps past ear and eye Lest there

And

I find the

same deceiver

be the sport of Fate forever.

Dread Power, but dear

Unmake me

God

thou be,

quite, or give thyself to

GIVE ALL Give

all

Obey

thy heart

TO LOVE

to love

Friends, kindred, days,

—

;

—

TO LOVE

GIVE ALL

Estate, good-fame.

Plans, credit and the

Nothing

'T Let

is it

Muse,

refuse.

a brave master;

have scope

utterly,

Hope beyond hope High and more high It dives into

With wing Untold But

noon,

intent

it is

a god.

Knows its own And the outlets It

unspent.

was never

path

of the sky.

for the

mean^

It requireth courage stout.

Souls above doubt.

Valor unbending. It will reward,

They shall return More than they were, And ever ascending. Leave

all

for love;

Yet, hear me, yet.

One word more One pulse more

thy heart behoved.

of firm endeavor,

—

;

TO LOVE

GIVE ALL

;

Keep thee to-day. To-morrow, forever. Free as an Arab

Of thy

beloved.

Cling with

First

to the

life

But when the

maid;

surprise,

vague shadow of surmise

Flits across her

Of a joy

bosom young,

apart from thee.

Free be she, fancy-free

Nor thou detain her vesture's hem, Nor the palest rose she flung From her summer diadem. Though thou loved her as thyself. As a self of purer clay, Though her parting dims the day. Stealing grace from

Heartily

When

know,

half-gods go,

The

gods arrive.

all alive

;

—

TO ELLEN AT THE SOUTH The

green grass

bowing.

The morning wind

'T is a tune worth thy knowing, Though it change every minute.

a tune of the Spring

Every year plays

over

the robin on the wing.

And

to the pausing lover.

O'er ten thousand, thousand

Goes

The

Flowers

—

Worship him

Hark

to the

tiny sect of Shakers

Nor '

—

ever.

winning sound

They summon Saying,

acres.

nimble zephyr;

light the

We have

thee, dearest,

dressed for thee the ground.

yet thou appearest.

hasten

; '

't is

our time.

Ere yet the red Summer Scorch our delicate prime.

Loved of

bee,

—

the

tawny hummer.

;

TO ELLEN

94 '

pride of thy race

Sad, in sooth,

were to ours.

If our brief tribe miss thy face.

We '

New

poor

England flowers.

Fairest, choose the fairest

Of our

members

lithe society

June's glories and September's

Show our '

Thou

shall

love and piety.

command

April's cowslip,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

all,

summer's clover,

the gentian in the

fall.

Blue-eyed pet of blue-eyed lover.

come, then, quickly come

We And

we are blowing; we perfume

are budding,

the

wind

that

Sings a tune that

worth the knowing.'

TO ELLEN And

Ellen,

when

Have brought

And

all

the graybeard years

us to

life's

evening hour,

the crowded Past appears

A tiny

scene of sun and shower,

;

TO EVA Then,

read the page aright

if I

Where Hope, the soothsayer, reads our shalt own the page was bright. Well that we loved, woe had we not.

Thyself

When

Mirth

And mute

When

all

And

all

dumb and

Flattery

's fled,

thy music's dearest tone.

but

Love

itself is

dead

but deathless Reason gone.

TO EVA O

FAIR and

Were

stately

maid, whose eyes

kindled in the upper skies

At the same torch that lighted minej For so I must interpret still

Thy

A Ah

sweet dominion o'er

sympathy

let

blameless gaze upon

Features that seem at heart

Nor

Who

will,

divine.

my own

fear those watchful sentinels.

charm

the

their glance forbids,

Chaste-glowing, underneath their

With

fire

that

draws while

lids.

repels.

lot.

;

LINES WRITTEN BY ELLEN LOUISA TUCKER SHORTLY BEFORE HER MARRIAGE TO MR. EMERSON Love

scatters oil

Life's dark sea,

Sweetens

its toil

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Our helmsman

he.

Around him hover Odorous clouds Under this cover His arrows he shrouds.

The I

cloud was around me,

knew

not

why

Such sweetness crowned me.

While Time

pain

shot by.

was within.

But calm

delight.

Like a world without

sin.

a day without night.

The shafts of the god Were tipped with down.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

THE VIOLET

For they drew no blood, And they knit no frown. I

knew of them

not

Until Cupid laughed loud.

And

saying "

Flew

You 're

caught

" !

off in the cloud.

O then I awoke. And

I lived

but to sigh,

Till a clear voice spoke,

And my

tears are dry.

THE VIOLET BY ELLEN LOUISA TUCKER

Why lingerest thou, pale violet, to Are Autumn's

blasts

fit

see the dying year

music for thee,

fragile one, to

hear;

Will thy clear blue eye, upward bent,

still

keep

its

chastened glow, Still tearless lift its

slender form above the wintry snow?

Why

wilt thou live

Thou

bloomest here a lonely thing in the clear autumn

pensive ray

day.

when none around

reflects

thy

;

THE AMULET

The

tall

green trees, that shelter thee, their last gay

dress put

There

will be

nought to shelter thee when their sweet

leaves are gone.

Violet, like thee,

how

blest could I lie

down and

die.

When summer

light

fading, and

autumn breezes

sigh;

When Winter reigned

I 'd close

my eye, but wake

with

bursting Spring,

And

live

with living nature, a pure rejoicing thing.

had a sister once who seemed just like a violet Her morning sun shone bright and calmly purely

set;

When

the violets were in their shrouds, and in

She

laid

its

Summer

pride.

her hopes at rest, and in the year's rich beauty died.

THE AMULET Your picture smiles as first it smiled; The ring you gave is still the same Your

letter tells,

tidings since

changing child

it,

came.

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

THINE EYES STILL SHINED Give me an amulet That keeps intelligence with you, Red when you love, and rosier red.

And when you Alas

that neither

Can

love not, pale and blue.

bonds nor vows

certify possession

Torments me still the fear that love Died in its last expression.

THINE EYES STILL SHINED Thine

eyes

I lonely

still

shined for me, though far

roved the land or sea

As I behold yon evening star. Which yet beholds not me. This morn

climbed the misty

hill

And roamed the pastures through

How

danced thy form before

Amidst the deep-eyed dew

When

the redbird spread his sable wing,

And showed

When

path

his side of flame

the rosebud ripened to the rose.

In both I read thy name.

;

EROS The

sense of the world

Long and

short,

various the report,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

To love and be beloved Men and gods have not outlearned And, how

Not

it %

oft soe'er they 've turned it.

to be improved.

HERMIONE On

a mound an Arab lay, And sung his sweet regrets And told his amulets The summer bird

His sorrow heard,

And, when he heaved

a sigh profound.

The

sympathetic swallow swept the ground.

be, as they said, she

Beauty

was not

not beautiful to me.

But sceptred genius, aye inorbed. Culminating

in her sphere.

This Hermione absorbed

The

lustre of the land

and ocean.

fair.

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

HERMIONE

loi

Hills and islands, cloud and tree,

In her form and motion.

no bauble miniature,

I ask

Nor

ringlets dead

Shorn from her comely head.

Now

morning not disdains

that

Mountains and the misty

plains

Her colossal portraiture They her heralds be. Steeped in her quality,

And

fame

singers of her

Who

their

Muse and dame.

Higher, dear swallows

heedless

Say, was

how

weak

are strong,

just,

In thee to frame,

Thou

the

mind not what

to trust.

to the Syrian couldst belong?

of a lineage

That each

for each doth fast engage;

In old Bassora's schools,

Hermit vowed

seemed

books and gloom,

Ill-bestead for gay bridegroom.

was by thy touch redeemed

When

thy meteor glances came.

We talked at And drew

large of worldly fate,

truly every trait!

I say.

;;

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

HERMIONE

102 '

Once

Now

dwelt apart,

I live

with

all

shepherd's lamp on far hill-side

Seems, by the traveller espied,

door into the mountain heart,

So didst thou quarry and unlock

Highways '

Now,

for

through the rock.

deceived, thou wanderest

In strange lands unblest

And my

kindred

Southwind

come

to soothe

next of blood

me.

;

come through fragrant wood, Drugged with spice from climates warnij is

And And

in every twinkling glade.

twilight nook.

Unveils thy form.

Out of

the forest

Forth paced

And when Watching It

way

yesterday

I sat

by the watercourse,

the daylight fade,

throbbed up from the brook.

River and rose and crag and bird, Frost and sun and eldest night.

To me To me

their aid preferred. their

" Courage

And

comfort plight

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

are thine allies.

with this hint be wise,

THE The The

INITIAL LOVE

chains of kind distant bind;

Deed thou Above her And,

doest she must do,

be true

will,

;

in her strict resort

winds and waterfalls

And

103

autumn's

sunlit festivals.

music, and to music's thought.

Inextricably bound.

She

shall find thee,

Follow not her

Come

INITIAL,

and be found.

flying feet;

to us herself to meet."

DEMONIC AND CELESTIAL LOVE

THE

INITIAL

LOVE

Venus, when her son was Cried him up and

down

lost.

the coast,

In hamlets, palaces and parks.

And

told the truant

Golden This

curls,

befell

Time and

Men

by his marks,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

and quiver and bow.

how

long ago

tide are strangely

changed.

and manners much deranged:

;

THE

104

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ;

;

INITIAL LOVE

None will now find Cupid latent By this foolish antique patent.

He came Shod

late

along the waste,

like a traveller for haste

With

malice dared

That

the maids and boys might

Boy no more, he wears

proclaim him,

name him.

coats,

all

Frocks and blouses, capes, capotes

no bow, or quiver, or wand,

bears

Nor

chaplet on his head or hand.

Leave

his

weeds and heed

his eyes,

All the rest he can disguise.

In the

Would And,

pit

of his eye

bring back day

if I tell

Though

you

all

if it

comprehend

a spark

were dark

thought, not.

In those unfathomable orbs

Every function he absorbs

Doth

And And And And By

eat,

and drink, and

write, ride,

and shoot,

and run, and have, and hold,

whine, and kiss,

fish,

and reason, and compute.

flatter,

and regret.

and couple, and beget,

those roving eyeballs bold.

Undaunted

are their courages.

Right Cossacks in their forages Fleeter they than any creature,

;

THE They

——

;

INITIAL

LOVE

are his steeds,

and not

and

Inquisitive,

;

fierce,

his feature;

fasting,

Restless, predatory, hasting;

And As

they pounce on other eyes

lions

And

their prey

round their

circles

writ,

Plainer than the day.

Underneath, within, above,

Love

—

love

—

love

—

love.

lives in his eyes

There doth

And

rolls

and work, and spin.

digest,

buy, and

and

sell,

them with

lose,

and win

delighted motion,

Joy-tides swell their mimic ocean.

Yet holds he them with tautest rein. That they may seize and entertain

The

glance that to their glance opposes,

fiery

honey sucked from

roses.

palmistry can understand,

Imbibing virtue by

his

hand

As if it were a living root The pulse of hands will make him mute j With all his force he gathers balms Into those wise, thrilling palms.

Cupid

a casuist,

mystic and a cabalist,

Can your

And

lurking thought surprise.

interpret

your device.

105

;

THE

io6

INITIAL

;

LOVE

versed in occult science.

In magic and in clairvoyance.

Oft he keeps

his fine ear strained,

And Reason on For aery

And But

her tiptoe pained

intelligence,

for strange coincidence.

touches his quick heart

When And

Fate by omens takes his part,

chance-dropped hints from Nature's sphere

Deeply soothe

his

anxious ear.

Heralds high before him run

He has ushers many a one He spreads his welcome where he goes, And touches all things with his rose. All things wait for and divine him,

How Or I

shall I dare to

malign him,

accuse the god of sport

must end

Painting

my I

true report,

him from head

In as far as

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

to foot.

took note,

Trusting well the matchless power

Of this Will

young-eyed emperor

clear his

fame from every cloud

With

the bards and with the crowd.

wilful, mutable,

Shy, untamed, inscrutable. Swifter-fashioned than the fairies,

;

;;

THE

INITIAL

LOVE

107

Substance mixed of pure contraries

His vice some elder

And

good

his

evil-spoken.

own.

He He

wild.

headstrong and alone;

affects the

wood and

Like a flower-hunting child Buries himself in

;

virtue's token.

Failing sometimes of his is

trees,

;

summer waves,

with beasts, in mines and caves.

Loves nature

like a

horned cow,

Bird, or deer, or caribou.

Shun him, nymphs, on the

fleet

horses

has a total world of wit

how

But he

wise are his discourses is

the arch-hypocrite.

And, through

all

science and

all art,

Seeks alone his counterpart.

He is a Pundit of the East, He is an augur and a priest, And his soul will melt in prayer. But word and wisdom

a snare

Corrupted by the present toy

follows joy, and only joy.

^here

no mask but he

will

wear;

He invented oaths to swear He paints, he carves, he chants, he And holds all stars in his embrace. He takes a sovran privilege

prays,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; THE

io8

Not allowed

INITIAL

;

LOVE

to any liege;

For Cupid goes behind

law.

all

right into himself does draw

And

For he

sovereignly allied,

Heaven's oldest blood flows

in his side,-

And interchangeably at one With every king on every throne, That no god dare

say

him nay.

Or see the fault, or seen betray He has the Muses by the heart. And the stern Parcae on his part. His many signs cannot be told

He has not one mode, but manifold. Many fashions and addresses, Piques, reproaches, hurts, caresses.

He will preach like a friar. And jump like Harlequin He will read like a crier. And fight like a Paladin. ;

Boundless

his

memory

;

Plans immense his term prolong;

not of counted age.

Meaning always

to be young.

And

intimacy,

his

wish

Intimater intimacy.

And The

a stricter privacy

;

impossible shall yet be done.

And, being two,

shall still

be one.

;

THE DEMONIC LOVE As the wave breaks to foam on Then runs into a wave again, So lovers melt

109

shelves.

their sundered selves,

Yet melted would be

twain.

THE DEMONIC LOVE

Man

was made of

social earth.

Child and brother from

Tethered by a

Of blood Next

his birth,

liquid cord

through veins of kindred poured.

his heart the fireside

Of mother, Names from

band

father, sister, stand

;

awful childhood heard

Throbs of a wild

religion stirred

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Virtue, to love, to hate them, vice Till dangerous Beauty came, at last,

Till Beauty

came

to snap all ties

;

The maid, abolishing the past, With lotus wine obliterates Dear memory's stone-incarved traits. And, by herself, supplants alone Friends year by year more inly known.

When

her calm eyes opened bright,

All else grew foreign in their It

was ever the self-same

light.

tale.

;;

THE DAEMONIC LOVE

no The

first

experience will not

Only two

And

in the

fail

garden walked,

with snake and seraph talked.

Close, close to

men,

Like undulating layer of

air.

Right above their heads,

The

potent plain of

Stands to each

Daemons

human

soul

its

spreads.

own.

For watch and ward and furtherance, In the snares of Nature's dance

And

the lustre and the grace

fascinate each youthful heart,

Beaming from

its

counterpart.

Translucent through the mortal covers, Is the

Daemon's form and

face.

and fro the Genius hies,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

gleam which plays and hovers

Over

the maiden's head,

And dips sometimes as low as Unknown, albeit lying near.

men, the path

And

to her eyes.

Daemon sphere; come and go

to the

they that swiftly

Leave no track on the heavenly snow. Sometimes the airy synod bends,

And And

the mighty choir descends. the brains of

In crowded and in

Teem

men still

thenceforth, resorts.

with unwonted thoughts

;

â&#x20AC;˘

THE DAEMONIC LOVE As, when a shower of meteors Cross the orbit of the earth,

And,

lit

by fringent

Blaze near and

air.

far,

Mortals deem the planets bright

Have

And

slipped their sacred bars,

the lone seaman

Sails, astonished,

the night

all

amid

stars.

Beauty of a richer vein, Graces of a subtler

Unto men

these

strain.

moonmen

lend,

And

our shrinking sky extend.

man's narrow path

strength and terror skirted

Also (from the song the wrath

Of the

Genii be averted

The Muse the truth uncolored The Dsemons are self-seeking: Their

fierce

Draws men

The

and limitary will to their likeness

erring painter

Highest Love

Him,

speaking)

who

still.

made Love shines on

blind,

all

radiant, sharpest-sighted god,

None can bewilder Whose eyes pierce The universe. Path-finder, road-builder.

Mediator, royal giver

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

112

THE DAEMONIC LOVE Rightly seeing, rightly seen,

Of joyful

and transparent mien.

'T is a sparkle passing From each to each, from

and

Sharing

fro perpetually all,

daring

thee to me.

;

all.

Levelling, displacing

Each

obstruction,

unites

Equals remote, and seeming opposites.

And

ever and forever

Love

Delights to build a road

Unheeded Danger near him strides. Love laughs, and on a lion rides. But Cupid wears another face. Born into Daemons less divine His roses bleach apace. His nectar smacks of

The Daemon

w^ine.

ever builds a wall,

Himself encloses and includes. Solitude in solitudes

In hke sort his love doth

fall.

He doth elect The beautiful and fortunate. And the sons of intellect. And the souls of ample fate,

Who

the Future's gates unbar,

Minions of the Morning

Star.

In his prowess he exults.

And

the multitude insults.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;;

;}

THE DAEMONIC LOVE

113

His impatient looks devour

Oft the humble and the poor And, seeing his eye glare, They drop their few pale flowers. Gathered with hope to please.

— —

Along the mountain towers, Lose courage, and despair.

will

never be gainsaid,

Pitiless, will

not be stayed

His hot tyranny

Burns up every other

tie.

Therefore comes an hour from Jove

Which his ruthless will defies. And the dogs of Fate unties. Shiver the palaces of glass Shrivel the rainbow-colored walls.

Where

in bright

Art each god and

Secure as in the zodiac's belt

And

the galleries and halls.

Wherein every Like a meteor

For

siren sung. pass.

this fortune

wanted root

In the core of God's abysm,

Was

And

weed of

self

ever the Dasmonic

Love

Is the ancestor of wars \

And

the parent of remorse.

—

and schism j

sibyl dwelt

; :

;

THE CELESTIAL LOVE

114

III

THE CELESTIAL LOVE But God '

There

New

smoke

gift

in the flame

flowerets bring,

And

new

prayers uplift.

love without a name.

Fond

said,

have a purer

I will

children, ye desire

please each other well

Another round,

a higher,

Ye shall climb on the heavenly And selfish preference forbear;

'And

And

in right deserving.

without a swerving

Each from your proper

Weave *

stair,

state,

roses for your mate.

Deep, deep

are loving eyes.

Flowed with naphtha

fiery

sweet

And the point is paradise. Where their glances meet Their reach

And The Be

shall yet

a vision without

be more profound,

bound

axis of those eyes sun-clear

the axis of the sphere

;

THE CELESTIAL LOVE So

shall the lights

ye pour amain

Go, without check or intervals. Through from the empyrean walls Unto the same again.' Higher

far into the

pure realm,

Over sun and star. Over the flickering Daemon Thou must mount for love; '

Into vision where

all

film,

form

In one only form dissolves In a region where the wheel

which

all

beings ride

Visibly revolves

Where

the starred, eternal

worm

Girds the world with bound and term;

Where unlike things Where good and ill. And joy and moan. Melt

are like

into one.

There

Past, Present, Future, shoot

Triple blossoms from one root

Substances at base divided.

their

There

One And

summits are united

;

the holy essence rolls,

through separated souls the sunny

Folding Nature

^Eon

sleeps

in its deeps.

115

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; THE CELESTIAL LOVE

ii6

And

every

Known

To men

fair

and every good,

in part, or

knowrn impure,

below,

In their archetypes endure.

The race of gods, Or those we erring own. Are shadows In the

still

flitting

up and down

abodes.

The circles of that sea are laws Which publish and which hide the

cause.

Pray for a beam

Out of that sphere. Thee to guide and to redeem. O, what a load

Of care

and

toil.

By lying use bestowed. From his shoulders falls who

The The

sees

true astronomy.

period of peace.

Counsel which the ages kept Shall the well-born soul accept.

the overhanging trees

with images,

Fill the lake

As garment draws

Men By

the garment's

their fortunes bring with

right or

hem,

them.

wrong,

Lands and goods go

to the strong.

Property will brutely draw

;

THE CELESTIAL LOVE Still to

and wind.

And

kind to kind.

Nor

less the eternal poles

Of tendency

distribute souls.

There need no vows

They

to bind

not each other seek, but find.

no pledge or oath,

give and take

Nature

the

bond of both

prayer persuades, no flattery fawns,-"

Their noble meanings are Plain and cold

their

pawns.

their address,

Power have they for tenderness And, so thoroughly is known Each other's counsel by his own,

They can parley without meeting; Need is none of forms of greeting They can well communicate In their innermost estate

When

;

each the other shall avoid.

Shall each by each be

Not with

117

the proprietor

Silver to silver creep

Whom

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

scarfs or

most enjoyed.

perfumed gloves

these celebrate their loves

Not by Not by

jewels, feasts and savors.

ribbons or by favors.

But by the sun-spark on the

And

sea.

the cloud-shadow on the lea,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

THE CELESTIAL LOVE

ii8

The And

soothing lapse of

morn

to mirk.

the cheerful round of work.

Their cords of love so public

are,

They intertwine the farthest star The throbbing sea, the quaking earth, Yield sympathy and signs of mirth Is

none so high, so mean

But

feels

Even

the

none,

and

seals this

fell

Furies are appeased,

The good

union

applaud, the lost are eased.

Love's hearts are

faithful,

but not fond.

Bound for the just, but not beyond; Not glad, as the low-loving herd.

Of self in

other

But they have

The And

still

preferred.

heartily designed

benefit of broad

they serve

men

mankind. austerely.

After their

own

Without a

false humility

For

Love's nobility,

this is

genius, clearly. ;

Not to scatter bread and gold. Goods and raiment bought and But

And And

speak the speech of innocence.

with hand and body and blood,

To make He He

sold;

to hold fast his simple sense.

his

that feeds

serves

all

bosom-counsel good.

men serveth few; who dares be true.

;

THE APOLOGY Think me That

not unkind and rude

walk alone

grove and glen;

I go to the god of the wood

To Tax

fetch his

word

men.

my sloth that I my arms beside the

not

Fold

Each cloud Writes a

Chide

letter in

book.

not, laborious band,

For the Every

brook

that floated in the sky

idle flowers I

aster in

brought;

hand

Goes home loaded with

a thought.

There was never mystery But 't is figured in the flowers

Was

never secret history

But

One

birds tell

in the bowers.

harvest from thy field

Homeward

brought the oxen strong;

second crop thine acres yield.

Which

gather in a song.

;

MERLIN Thy

trivial

harp will never please

fill

Its

chords should ring as blows the breeze.

craving ear;

Free, peremptory, clear.

jingling serenader's art,

Nor tinkle of piano strings, Can make the wild blood start In

its

The

mystic springs.

kingly) bard

Must sniTte the chords rudely and As with hammier or with mace That they may render back

hard,

Artful thunder, which conveys Secrets of the solar track.

Sparks of the supersolar blaze. Merlin's blows are strokes of fate,

Chiming with the

When

forest tone.

boughs bufFet boughs

Of the With With With

in the

moan

Chinning with the gasp and ice-imprisoned flood

the pulse of manly- hearts the_yx)ice-of orators

the din of city arts

wood

;

MERLIN

121

With the cannonade of wars With the marches of the brave And prayers of might from martyrs' Great

cave.

the art.

Great be the manners, of the bard.

shall

With

not his brain encumber

the coil /)f

rhythm and number;

But, leaving~rule and pal^^brethought.

' '

shall

For

his

Pass

aye climb

rhyme.

in, pass in,' the

angels say,

In to the upper doors.

Nor

count compartments of the

But mount

floors.

to paradise

the stairway_oÂŁsurprise.'

Blameless master of the games,

KingJ)f sport that never shames.

shall daily

joy dispense

Hid in song's sweet Forms more cheerly

What

influence. live

and go.

time the subtle mind

Sings aloud the tune whereto

Their pulses

beat.

And march their feet. And their members are By

Sybarites beguiled.

shall

combined.

no task decline

;

MERLIN

122

Merlin's mighty line

Extremes of nature reconciled, Bereaved a tyrant oT his

And made

the lion mild.

Songs can the tempest

—

will, -

still,

Scattered on the stormy air,

Mould

And

the year to fair increase.

bring in poetic peace.

weave.

shall not seek to

In weak, unhappy times. Efficacious

Wait

rhymes

his returning strength.

Bird that from the nadir's floor

the zenith's top can soar,

The

soaring orbit of the

—

muse exceeds

that

journey's length.

Nor

profane affect to hit

compass

Which

that,

by meddling wit.

only the propitious mind

Publishes

when

't is

inclined.

There

are open hours

When

the God's will sallies free.

And The

the dull idiot might see

flowing fortunes of a thousand years

Sudden,

unawares.

Self-moved, fly-to the doors,

Nor sword

What

of angels could reveal

they conceal.

;

—

;

;;

;

MERLIN u The rhyme

of the poet

Modulates the king's

affairs

Balance-loving Nature

Made

things in pairs.

every foot

Each

all

its

color with

antipode

its

counter glowed

Higher or graver Flavor gladly blends with flavor

Leaf answers

And match Hands

leaf

upon the bough

the paired cotyledons.

to hands, and feet to feet.

In one body grooms and brides Eldest

rite,

two married

sides

In every mortal meet. Light's far furnace shines.

Smelting

balls

and bars.

Forging double

stars.

Glittering twins and trines.

The

;

every tone beat answering tones,

animals are sick with love,

Lovesick with rhyme

Each with

all

propitious

Time

Into chorus wove.

Like the dancers' ordered band. Thoughts come also hand in hand

;

}

MERLIN

124

In equal couples mated,

else alternated

Adding by

One

their

mutual gage,

to other, health

and age.

Solitary fancies go

Short-lived wandering to and fro,

Most

like to bachelors.

an ungiven maid,

Not ancestors, With no posterity

make

the

lie afraid^

keep truth undecayed.

Perfect-paired as eagle's wings.

Justice

the

rhyme of things

Trade and counting use

The self-same And Nemesis,

Who Who The

tuneful

muse;

with even matches odd. athwart space redresses partial

wrong.

Fills the just period,

And

finishes the song.

Subtle rhymes, with ruin

rife,

Murmur

life.

in the

Sung by the

house of

Sisters as they spin

In perfect time and measure they Build and unbuild our echoing clay.

the

two

twilights of the

Fold us music-drunken

in.

day

;

BACCHUS Bring me wine, but wine which never grew In the belly of the grape. Or grew on vine whose tap-roots, reaching through, Under Suffer

Let

the Andes to the Cape, no savor of the earth to scape.

its

grapes the

morn

salute

From a nocturnal root. Which feels the acrid juice

Of Styx

and Erebus

And turns the woe of Night, By its own craft, to a more rich

delight.

We buy ashes for bread We buy diluted wine ;

Give me of the

true,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Whose ample leaves and tendrils Among the silver hills of heaven Draw everlasting dew Wine of wine.

curled

Blood of the world.

Form That

of forms, and mould of statures, I intoxicated.

And by

May

the draught assimilated,

float at pleasure

through

all

natures;

——

;;

BACCHUS

126

The And

bird-language rightly spell, that

Wine

which roses say so

that

well.

shed

Like the torrents of the sun

the horizon walls.

like the Atlantic streams,

When

which run

the South Sea calls.

Water and bread. Food which needs no transmuting. Rainbow-flowering, wisdom-fruiting.

Wine which

is already man, Food which teach and reason

Wine which Music

can.

is,

Music and wine are one, That I, drinking this. Shall hear far

Chaos

Kings unborn

shall

And the What it

poor grass will

Quickened

talk with

shall plot

do when

so, will I

it is

thank the joyful juice all I

know

;

—

Winds

of remembering

Of the

ancient being blow.

and plan

man.

unlock

Every crypt of every rock.

For

walk with me

—

;

— ;

MEROPS And seeming-solid Open and flow. Pour, Bacchus

127

walls of use

the^emembering wine me and mine

Retrieve the loss of

Vine

And

for vine be antidote.

the grape requite the lote

Haste to cure the old despair,

Reason

in Nature's lotus drenched,

The memory

of ages quenched

Give them again

to shine

Let wine repair what

And

this

where the infection

dazzling

memory

Refresh the faded

Recut the aged

undid;

slid,

revive

;

tints,

prints.

And write my old adventures with the pen Which on the first day drew. Upon the tablets blue. The dancing Pleiads and eternal men.

MEROPS What

care I, so they stand the same,

—

Things of the heavenly mind, How long the power to give them name Tarries yet behind

;

THE HOUSE

128

Thus

far to-day fair,

your favors reach,

appeasing presences

Ye taught my lips And a thousand

a single speech, silences.

Space grants beyond

his fated road

inch to the god of day

;

And copious language still bestowed One word, no more, to say.

THE HOUSE There Can She

no architect

build as the

Muse can

skilful to select

Materials for her plan

Slow and warily

;

to choose

Rafters of immortal pine.

cedar incorruptible.

Worthy

her design.

She threads dark Alpine forests

valleys by the sea,

In many lands, with painful steps,

Ere she can

find a tree.

SAADI

129

She ransack^ mines and ledges

And quarries every rock. To hew the famous adamant '

For each

eternal block

She lays her beams -

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

in music,

In music every one,

the cadence of the whirling world

Which That

By But

dances round the sun

so they shall not be displaced lapses or by wars,

happy souls

for the love of

Outlive the newest

stars.

SAADI Trees Kine

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

)

in groves,

in droves.

In ocean sport the scaly herds.

Wedge-like cleave the

northern lakes

Browse

Men

fly

wind-borne ducks,

the mountain sheep in flocks,

consort in

camp and town.

But the poet dwells

God, who gave

air the birds,

alone.

him

j^^

the lyre,

all mortals the desire,

{^^^^'^

;

SAADI

130 For

breathing men's behoof,

all

Straitly

charged him,

Annexed

Sit aloof;

a warning, poets say,

the bright

premium,

Ever, when twain Shall the harp be

—

together plaj,

dumb.

Many may come, But one

Two The

shall sing;

touch the string. harp

dumb.

Though there come a million, Wise Saadi dwells alone.

—

Yet Saadi loved the race of men, No churl, immured in cave or den In bower and hall

wants them

all,

Nor can dispense With Persia for his audience They must give ear.

Grow

;

red with joy and white with fear

But he has no companion

Come

ten, or

Good

Saadi dwells alone.

come

Be thou ware where

Wisdom Entertain

of the gods it

;

a million.

Saadi dwells is

reverently.

he,

—

;

SAADI

131

Gladly round that golden lamp Sylvan

And

deities

encamp,

simple maids and noble youth

Are welcome to the man of truth. Most welcome they who need him most. They feed the spring which they exhaust For greater need

Draws But,

better deed

critic,

Nor show

spare thy vanity.

thy pompous parts.

vex with odious subtlety

The

cheerer of men's hearts.

Sad-eyed Fakirs swiftly say Endless dirges to decay.

Never in the blaze of light Lose the shudder of midnight Pale at overflowing noon

Hear wolves barking

at the

moon

;

In the bower of dalliance sweet

Hear the

And

Avenger's

feet

shake before those awful Powers,

Who '

far

in their pride forgive not ours.

Thus

the sad-eyed Fakirs preach:

Bard,

when

And

lift

thee would Allah teach,.

thee to his holy mount.

sends thee from his bitter fount

Wormwood,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

saying,

;

Drink not the Malaga of

thy ways

praise,

; :

;

SAADI

132

But do the deed thy fellows hate,

And compromise

thy peaceful state

Smite the white breasts which thee fed. Stuff sharp thorns beneath the head

Of them thou shouldst have comforted For out of woe and out of crime Draws

And

the heart a lore sublime."

yet

seemeth not to

That the high gods love tragedy ; For Saadi sat in the sun, And thanks was his contrition ; For haircloth and for bloody whips.

Had And And

active hands and smiling lips

;

yet his runes he rightly read. to his folk his

Sunshine

message sped.

in his heart transferred

Lighted each transparent word.

And well could honoring Persia What Saadi wished to say For

Saadi's nightly stars did

learn

burn

Brighter than Jami's day.

Whispered the Muse '

in Saadi's cot

gentle Saadi, listen not.

Tempted by thy

thirst

For the

praise of wit.

and appetite

talents not thine

own.

sons of contradiction.

Never, son of eastern morning,

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;;

SAADI

;

^33

Follow falsehood, follow scorning.

Denounce who

And Let

will,

who

will deny.

pile the hills to scale the

sky

theist, atheist, pantheist.

Define and wrangle

how

they

list.

Fierce conserver, fierce destroyer,

But thou, joy-giver and enjoyer.

Unknowing war, unknowing

crime.

Gentle Saadi, mindMyy rhyrne^

Heed not what the brawlers Heed thou only Saadi's lay. '

Let the

great world bustle

say.

With war and trade, with camp and town; A thousand men shall dig and eat At

forge and furnace thousands sweat

And thousands sail the purple sea. And give or take the stroke of war. Or crowd the market and bazaar; war end, and peace return. And cities rise where cities burn, Ere one man my hill shall climb, Oft

shall

\Who

can turn the golden rhyme.

Let them manage how they may.

Heed thou

only Saadi's lay.

Seek the living among the dead,

Man

man

imprisoned;

Barefooted Dervish

not poor.

If fate unlock his bosom's door.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

——

;

SAADI

134

So that what his eye hath seen

His tongue can paint as bright,

And what With

keen;

his tender heart hath felt

equal

fire

thy heart shalt melt.

For,

whom

the

Muses

And

touch with soft persuasion,

His words

like a

smile upon.

storm-wind can bring

Terror and beauty on

their

wing

In his every syllable

Lurketh Nature veritable

And though

he speak

In heaven no

Yet before

Swims

The The

star,

on earth no spark,

the listener's eye

the world in ecstasy,

forest

waves, the morning breaks,

pastures sleep, ripple the lakes.

Leaves twinkle, flowers

And

life

like persons be,

pulsates in rock or tree.

Saadi, so far thy

midnight dark,

and

words

shall reach

Suns

rise

And

thus to Saadi said the

set in Saadi's

Eat thou the bread which

speech

Muse men refuse

Flee from the goods which from thee flee;

Seek nothing,

— Fortune

seeketh thee.

Nor mount, nor dive all good things keep The midway of the eternal deep. Wish not to fill the isles with eyes ;

fetch thee birds of paradise

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

; ::

SAADI

135

thine orchard's edge belong

All the brags of plume and song

Wise

Ali's sunbright sayings pass

For proverbs in the market-place Through mountains bored by regal Toil whistles as he drives

Nor

scour the seas, nor

art,

his cart.

sift

mankind,

poet or a friend to find

Behold, he watches at the door

Behold

his

shadow on the

floor

Open innumerable doors The heaven where unveiled Allah pours The flood of truth, the flood of good. The Seraph's and the Cherub's food. Those doors are men the Pariah hind :

Admits thee

to the perfect

Mind.

Seek not beyond thy cottage wall

Redeemers

While thou

that can yield thee sittest at

all

thy door

the desert's yellow floor.

Listening to the gray-haired crones. Foolish gossips, ancient drones, Saadi, see

they

rise in stature

the height of mighty Nature,

And

the secret stands revealed

Fraudulent

That

Time

in vain concealed,

blessed gods in servile

masks

Plied for thee thy household tasks.'

;

—

;

HOLIDAYS From

fall

to spring, the russet acorn,

Fruit beloved of maid and boy,

Lent

itself

To Pluck

now

Its root

Toy no It

beneath the forest.

be the children's toy.

In vain,

— thou

canst not

has pierced yon shady

longer

—

has duties

mound

;

anchored in the ground.

Year by year the rose-lipped maiden. Playfellow of young and old,

Was

frolic

sunshine, dear to

all

men,

dear to one than mines of gold.

Whither went the

lovely

hoyden

Disappeared in blessed wife Servant to a wooden cradle,

Living in a baby's

Still

thou playest

;

—

life.

short vacation

Fate grants each to stand aside

Now 'T

must thou be man and is

artist,

the turning of the tide.

;

XENOPHANES By fate, not option, frugal Nature gave One scent to hyson and to wall-flower. One sound to pine-groves and to waterfalls. One aspect to the desert and the lake. It was her stern necessity: all things Are of^nÂŁ pattern ma de ; bird, beast and

flower.

Song, picture, form, space, thought and character

Deceive

us,

seeming to be many things,

And are but one. Beheld far off, they part As God and devil; bring them to the mind. They dull its edge with their monotony. To know one element, explore another. And in the second reappears the first. The specious panorama of a year

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

But multiplies the image of a day, A belt of mirrors round a taper's flame

And universal Nature, through her vast And crowded whole, an infinite paroquet. Repeats one note.

;

THE

DAY'S

RATION

When From

was born,

the seas of strength Fate

all

Saying,

This be thy portion,

Less than a

From my

filled a chalice,

child

this chalice,

;

thou shalt daily draw

lily's,

great arteries,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; nor

nor more,'

less,

Time

All substances the cunning chemist

Melts down into that liquor of

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

life,

Friends, foes, joys, fortunes, beauty and disgust.

And

whether

angry or content.

Indebted or insulted, loved or hurt. All he

And

distils into sidereal

brims

little

cup

;

wine heedless, alas

Of all he sheds how little will hold. How much runs over on the desert sands. it

If a

new Muse draw me with

And The And

I uplift

myself into

needs of the all

Drag

first

its

splendid ray.

heaven,

sight absorb

blood,

the following hours of the day

a ridiculous age.

To-day, when friends approach, and every hour Brings book, or starbright scroll of genius.

The And Nor

little

all

cup

will hold not a

bead more.

the costly liquor runs to waste

gives the jealous lord one

diamond drop

;

BLIGHT

139

So to be husbanded for poorer days. Why need I volumes, if one word suffice

Why

need I

when

galleries,

After the master's sketch

a pupil's draught

fills

and

o'erfills

My apprehension Why seek Italy, Who cannot circumnavigate the sea ?

Of thoughts The

and things

home, but

adjourn

still

nearest matters for a thousand days

BLIGHT Give me For

And

am weary

die

truths

of the surfaces.

of inanition.

If I

knew

Only

the herbs and simples of the

Rue,

cinquefoil,

gill,

wood.

vervain and agrimony.

Blue-vetch and trillium, hawkweed, sassafras. Milkweeds and murky brakes, quaint pipes and sun-

dew.

And rare and virtuous roots, which in these woods Draw untold juices from the common earth. Untold, unknown, and

could surely spell

Their fragrance, and

their chemistry apply

By sweet

human

affinities to

flesh.

Driving the foe and stablishing the

that

Of the

were much, and

friend,

could be a part

round day, related to the sun

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

' ;

;

BLIGHT

140

And

planted world, and

Of their

executor

scholars,

who

invade our

who

fells

the

Bold as the engineer

And

full

imperfect functions.

But these young

travelling often in the cut

hills,

wood.

he makes,

know And all their botany 2I. Latin nanies. The old men studied magic in the flowers. And human fortunes in astronomy. And an omnipotence in chemistry, Love not

the flower they pluck, and

Preferring things to names, for these were

Were

their clear

fell.

Our

eyes

are strangers to the stars.

strangers to the plant and to the mine.

injured elements say,

Not

in us

;

night and day, ocean and continent,

and mineral say,

Not

in us

;

haughtily return us stare for stare.

For we invade them impiously

We devastate And

men,

strangers to the mystic beast and bird.

Fire, plant

And

eye-beams

caught the footsteps of the Same.

Are armed, but we

And And The And

not,

unitarians of the united world.

And, wheresoever

They

them

for gain

unreligiously.

coldly ask their pottage, not their love.

Therefore they shove us from them, yield to us

Only what

to our griping toil

due

But the sweet affluence of love and song,

The rich results of the divine consents Of man and earth, of world beloved and

lover,

; ;

;

MUSKETAQUID The And And

141

nectar and ambrosia, are withheld in the midst of spoils

and

slaves,

thieves

pirates of the universe, shut out

Daily to a more thin and outward rind.

Turn pale and starve. The stunted trees look

Therefore, to our sick eyes.

And And Even

And

shorn of

its

at its greatest space

in its highest

its

natural term

venerable length.

dies in anger that

And,

short,

will not tan our hay.

nothing thrives to reach life,

summer

sick, the

Clouds shade the sun, which

a defeat,

was

a dupe

noon and wantonness,

Is early frugal, like a beggar's child

Even

And

in the hot pursuit

of the best aims

prizes of ambition, checks

Like Alpine cataracts frozen

its

hand.

as they leaped,

Chilled with a miserly comparison

Of the

toy's purchase with the length of

life.

MUSKETAQUID Because

was content with these poor

fields.

Low, open meads, slender and sluggish streams, And found a home in haunts which others scorned.

The And And

partial

granted

wood-gods overpaid

love.

the freedom of their state.

in their secret senate have prevailed

;

MUSKETAQUID

142

With the dear, dangerous lords that rule our life, Made moon and planets parties to their bond. And through my rock-like, solitary wont Shot million rays of thought and tenderness.

For me,

in showers, in

Visits the valley I bathe in the

And

;

morn's

loiter willing

Sparrows

far off,

Blue-coated,

—

soft

the clouds,

and silvered

—

air.

by yon loitering stream.

and nearer, April's bird.

flying before

Courageous sing a

sweeping showers, the Spring

— break away

from

tree to tree.

delicate overture

lead the tardy concert of the year.

Onward and nearer rides the sun of May And wide around, the marriage of the plants Is sweetly solemnized. Then flows amain The surge of summer's beauty dell and crag. ;

Hollow and

lake, hillside

Are touched with

Has

genius.

and pine arcade.

Yonder ragged

clifF

thousand faces in a thousand hours.

Beneath low

hills, in

the broad interval

Through which at will our Indian rivulet Winds mindful still of sannup and of squaw,

Whose Here

pipe and arrow oft the plough unburies.

in pine houses built of Tiew-fallen trees,

Supplanters of the tribe, the farmers dwell. Traveller, to thee, perchance, a tedious road,

Or,

The

may

be, a picture

landscape

;

to these

men.

an armory of powers,

;

MUSKETAQUID Which, one by

They They And,

know

draw and

use.

harness beast, bird, insect, to their work;

prove the virtues of each bed of rock. like the

Draw from

one, they

143

chemist 'mid his loaded

each stratum

its

jars,

adapted use

drug their crops or weapon their

arts withal.

They turn the frost upon their chemic heap, They set the wind to winnow pulse and grain. They thank the spring-flood for its fertile slime, And, on cheap summit-levels of

the snow.

Slide with the sledge to inaccessible

woods

O'er meadows bottomless. So, year by year.

They

fight the

elements with elements

(That one would say, meadow and forest walked. Transmuted in these men to rule their like).

And The

by the order in the

What

these strong masters wrote at large in miles,

I followed in small

For there

The

copy

no rood has not

acre

a star above

cordial quality of pear or

Ascends

field disclose

order regnant in the yeoman's brain.

plum

as gladly in a single tree

in broad orchards resonant with bees

And And

every atom poises for for the whole.

Showed me

The The

The

itself.

gentle deities

the lore of colors and of sounds,

innumerable tenements of beauty. miracle of generative force.

}

MUSKETAQUID

144

Far-reaching concords of astronomy Felt in the plants and in the punctual birds Better, the linked purpose of the whole,

And,

chiefest prize,

In the glad

home

found

I true liberty

plain-dealing Nature gave.

The polite found me impolite the great Would mortify me, but in vain for still I am a willow of the wilderness. ;

;

Loving the wind

that bent

me. All

hurts

My garden spade can heal. A woodland walk, A quest of river-grapes, a mocking thrush, A wild-rose, or rock-loving columbine. Salve

worst wounds.

For thus the wood-gods murmured '

Dost

love our manners

Canst thou

Canst thou, thy pride forgot,

ear

silent lie

Nature pass

Into the winter night's extinguished

mood

Canst thou shine now, then darkle,

And

being latent, feel thyself no less

As, when the all-worshipped moon attracts the eye,

The

river, hill, stems, foliage are obscure.

Yet envies none, none

are unenviable,'

;

DIRGE CONCORD, I

REACHED

1838

the middle of the

mount

which the incarnate soul must climb.

And paused for them, and looked With me who walked through Five rosy boys with morning

Had

leaped from one

fair

around. space and time.

light

mother's arms.

Fronted the sun with hope as bright,

And

greeted

God

Knows he who

To What

reap

its

mystic

with childhood's psalms.

tills

this lonely field

scanty corn, fruit his acres yield

At midnight and

morn

In the long sunny afternoon

The I

plain

was

wandered up,

full

of ghosts

wandered down,

Beset by pensive hosts.

;

DIRGE

146

The

winding Concord gleamed below,

Pouring as wide a flood

As when my brothers, long ago, Came with me to the wood. But they are gone,

Who The

trod with

—

the holy ones

this lovely vale

strong, star-bright

Are

silent,

low and

companions

pale.

My good, my noble, in their prime, Who made this world the feast was. Who learned with me the lore of time. Who loved this dwelling-place it

They took this They played

valley for their toy.

with

in every

cell for prayer, a hall for joy,

They They

treated

mood;

—

Nature as they would.

colored the horizon round

Stars flamed

and faded as they bade.

All echoes hearkened for their sound,

They made

—

the woodlands glad or mad.

I touch this flower of silken leaf.

Which once our childhood knew; Its soft leaves wound me with a grief Whose balsam never grew.

;

DIRGE Hearken

147

yon pine-warbler

Singing aloft in the tree

Hearest thou,

What

traveller.

he singeth to

Not unless God made sharp thine ear With sorrow such as mine. Out of that delicate lay could'st thou Its

Go, '

heavy

tale divine.

lonely man,'

They

saith

loved thee from their birth

Their hands were pure, and pure

There '

no such hearts on

Ye drew one mother's milk, One chamber held ye all

very tender history

Did '

are

your childhood

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

fall.

You cannot unlock your heart. The key is gone with them The silent organ loudest chants The master's requiem.'

their faith,

earth.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ;;

The

THRENODY

South-wind brings

Life, sunshine and desire,

And on

every

mount and meadow

Breathes aromatic

fire;

But over the dead he has no power.

The

lost, the lost,

he cannot restore;

mourn

And, looking over the

hills, I

The

not return.

darling

I see I see

my my

who

shall

empty house, trees repair their

boughs

And he, the wondrous child, Whose silver warble wild Outvalued every pulsing sound

Within the

air's

cerulean round,

The hyacinthine boy, for whom Morn well might break and April bloom, The gracious boy, who did adorn The world whereinto he was born, And by his countenance repay The favor of the loving Day,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Has

disappeared from the Day's eye;

Far and wide she cannot find him

hopes pursue, they cannot bind him.

;;

;

THRENODY Returned

And

this day, the

budding

finds not the

Nature,

who

lost,

Fate

him

fall.

let

South-wind searches.

young pines and budding birches

finds

But

149

man

cannot remake him Fate can't retake him

Nature, Fate, men, him seek in vain.

And whither now, my truant O, whither tend thy feet

wise and sweet,

I had the right,

few days ago,

Thy

steps to watch, thy. place to

How

have

I forfeited the right

Hast thou forgot

in a

new

know

delight

I hearken for thy household cheer,

eloquent child

Whose

voice, an equal messenger.

Conveyed thy meaning

What

mild.

though the pains and joys

Whereof

spoke were toys

Fitting his age and ken.

Yet

fairest

Who

dames and bearded men.

heard the sweet request.

So gentle, wise and grave.

Bended with joy

And

let

to his behest

the world's affairs go by,

while to share his cordial game.

Or mend Still

his

plotting

wicker wagon-frame.

how

their

hungry ear

That winsome voice again might hear

;;

; ;

;

THRENODY

150 For

his lips could well

Words

that

pronounce

were persuasions.

Gentlest guardians marked serene

His early hope,

Took

To make

this

Ah, vainly do

The

his liberal

mien

counsel from his guiding eyes

wisdom

earthly wise.

these eyes recall

school-march, each day's

festival.

When every morn my bosom glowed To watch the convoy on the road The

babe in willow wagon closed.

With With

rolling eyes

and face composed

children forward and behind.

Like Cupids studiously inclined

And he the chieftain paced beside. The centre of the troop allied. With sunny face of sweet repose.

guard the babe from fancied foes.

The little Took the Each

captain innocent

eye with him as he went

village senior

paused to scan

And speak the lovely caravan. From the window I look out

mark thy

Stately

beautiful parade.

marching

some tune by

cap and coat

fairies

played

music heard by thee alone

works

as noble led thee on.

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

; ;;

;

THRENODY Now Up

Love and

and down

The The

Pride, alas

151

in vain,

their glances strain.

painted sled stands where

stood

kennel by the corded wood

His gathered sticks to stanch the wall

Of the

snow-tower, when snow should

The ominous hole he dug in And childhood's castles built His

every inch of garden ground

From

feet around.

the roadside to the brook

Whereinto he loved Step the

meek

to look.

fowls where erst they ranged;

wintry garden

lies

unchanged

brook into the stream runs on

But the deep-eyed boy

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

poultry-yard, the shed, the barn,

Paced by the blessed

The The

or planned

daily haunts I well discern,

The And

fall

the sand,

;

gone.

that shaded day.

Dark with more

When

clouds than tempests are.

thou didst yield thy innocent breath

In birdlike heavings unto death.

Night came, and Nature had not thee; I said,

are mates in misery.'

The morrow dawned

with needless glow

Each snowbird chirped, each fowl must crow; Each tramper started but the feet ;

Of the

most beautiful and sweet

;

! !

THRENODY

152

Of human And

youth had

garden,

left

the

hill

— they were bound and

There

not a sparrow or a wren,

There

not a blade of autumn grain,

still. ]

Which the four seasons do not tend And tides of life and increase lend And every chick of every bird. And weed and rock-moss is preferred.

O O

ostrich-like forgetfulness loss

of larger in the

Was there no star No watcher in the No angel from the That

loiters

Could stoop

less

that could be sent,

firmament. countless host

round the crystal coast. to heal that only child.

Nature's sweet marvel undefiled,

And keep the blossom of the earth, Which all her harvests were not worth ? Not mine,

—

But Nature's

And

never called thee mine.

heir,

—

if I repine.

seeinglrashly torn and

Not what

Grow

made, but what

moved I loved.

early old with grief that thou

Must to the wastes of Nature 'T is because a general hope

Was For

quenched, and

all

flattering planets

This

child should

By wondrous

ills

go,

—

must doubt and grope.

seemed

to say

of ages stay,

tongue, and guided pen,

;

THRENODY

153

Bring the flown Muses back to men. Perchance not he but Nature

The It

ailed.

world and not the infant

was not

A genius Who

failed.

ripe yet to sustain

of so fine a

strain,

gazed upon the sun and

if he came unto And, pregnant with

his

moon

own.

his grander thought.

Brought the old order into doubt. His beauty once

their beauty tried

They could not feed him, and And wandered backward as in

To Ill

he died. scorn.

wait an aeon to be born.

day which made

this

beauty waste.

Plight broken, this high face defaced

Some went and came about

And some

Some to their Some went to

One

the dead;

books of solace read

write,

some went

tarried here, there hurried

to pray;

one;

But their heart abode with none. Covetous death bereaved us all.

aggrandize one funeral.

The eager fate which Took the largest part

For

dying

this losing is true

This

his

lordly

;

friends the tidings say

carried thee

man's down-lying.

slow but sure reclining.

Star by star his world resigning.

THRENODY

154

child of paradise.

Boy who made

home.

dear his father's

In whose deep eyes

Men

read the welfare of the times to

am too much bereft. The world dishonored

come,

O O O

truth's

trusted broken prophecy

The

for the future, to the future lost

deep Heart answered,

Worthier cause I

left.

lie

richest fortune sourly crossed

Born

thou hast

and nature's costly

Weepest thou

for passion wild

had not taken the

child.

And deemest thou as those who pore. With aged eyes, short way before,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Think' St Beauty vanished from the coast

Of matter,

and thy darling

Taught he not thee

Whose

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the

lost

man

of eld.

eyes within his eyes beheld

Heaven's numerous hierarchy span

The

mystic gulf from

To be When

God

man

alone wilt thou begin

worlds of lovers

hem

thee in

To-morrow, when the masks shall That dizen Nature's carnival.

fall

The pure shall see by their own will. Which overflowing Love shall fill.

;; ;

;

THRENODY 'Tis not within the force of

The

155

fate

fate-conjoined to separate.

But thou,

votary, weepest thou

I gave thee sight

— where

I taught thy heart

is it

now ?

beyond the reach

Of ritual,

bible, or

Wrote in As far as

thy mind's transparent table,

Taught

of speech

the incommunicable

thee each private sign to raise

Lit by the supersolar blaze.

Past utterance, and past belief,

And The And

mysteries of Nature's heart

though no

Throb

And I

—^

past the blasphemy_r)f-grJ€f,—

all is

came

Muse

can these impart,

thine with Nature's throbbing breast. clear

from

east to west.

to thee as to a friend

Dearest^ to thee I did not send

Tutors, but a joyful eye,

Innocence that matched the sky,

Lovely locks, a form of wonder. Laughter rich as woodland thunder.

That thou

The

might'st entertain apart

richest flowering of

all art

And, as the great all-loving Day Through smallest chambers takes

That thou

its

way.

might'st break thy daily bread

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;;

THRENODY

156

With

prophet, savior and head might'st cherish for thine

That thou

The

Boy-Rabbi,

own

Mary's Son,

riches of sweet

Israel's paragon.

And thoughtest thou such guest Would in thy hall take up his rest Would rushing life forget her laws, Fate's glowing revolution pause

High omens ask

Not

to be

higher gifts unbind girds the incarnate mind.

the scanty shores are full

With Thought's

When Then

diviner guess

conned to tediousness

And know my The zone that

When

frail

perilous, whirling pool;

Nature can no more,

the Spirit strikes the hour

servant Death, with solving

Pours

Wilt thou freeze

Whose

love's tidal flow.

streams through Nature circling go

Nail the wild star to

its

track

the half-climbed zodiac

Light

Blood Life

rite.

finite into infinite.

is is

light

which

radiates.

blood which circulates,

is life

which generates.

And many-seeming Wilt thou

transfix

life is

one,

and make

Its

onward force too

figure,

none ?

starkly pent

bone and lineament

;

; ;

;

THRENODY Wilt thou, uncalled, Talker

Nor

interrogate.

the unreplying Fate

see the genius of the

Ascendant

Beckon

157

whole

in the private soul.

when

Self-announced

to its

go and come. hour of doom

Fair the soul's recess and shrine,

Magic-buUt to

last

a season

Masterpiece of love benign, Fairer that expansive reason

Whose omen

't is,

and

sign.

Wilt thou not ope thy heart

What

know

rainbows teach, and sunsets show

Verdict which accumulates

From

lengthening scroll of

human

Voice of earth to earth returned. Prayers of saints that inly burned, Saying,

What

As God

lives, is

Hearts are

fates,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

is excellent^

permanent

dust, hearts' loves

remain i

Heart's lave will meet thee again.

Revere the Maker; fetch thine eye

to his style,

and manners of the sky.

Not of adamant and

gold

Built he heaven stark and cold

No, but

a nest of bending reeds.

Flowering grass and scented weeds

Or like a traveller's fleeing tent. Or bow above the tempest bent

;

;;

CONCORD HYMN

158

Built of tears and sacred flames.

And

virtue reaching to

its

aims;

Built of furtherance and pursuing,

Not of

spent deeds, but of doing.

Silent rushes the swift Lord Through mined systems still

restored,

Broadsowing, bleak and void to bless. Plants with worlds the wilderness

Waters with

tears of ancient

;

sorrow

Apples of Eden ripe to-morrow.

House and tenant go to ground. in God, in Godhead found.'

Lost

CONCORD HYMN SUNG AT THE COMPLETION OF THE BATTLE

MONUMENT, JULY

1837

the rude bridge that arched the flood.

Their

flag to April's

breeze unfurled.

Here once the embattled farmers stood

And

The

fired the shot

heard round the world.

foe long since in silence slept

Alike the conqueror silent sleeps

And Time

Down

the ruined bridge has swept

the dark stream

which seaward creeps.

;

CONCORD HYMN On

this

green bank, by this soft stream.

set to-day a votive stone

That memory may

When,

Spirit, that

159

die,

our

their deed

sires,

redeem,

our sons are gone.

made those heroes

dare

and leave their children

free.

Time and Nature gently spare The shaft we raise to them and thee.

Bid

u MAY-DAY AND OTHER

PIECES

;

MAY-DAY Daughter of Heaven and Earth, With sudden passion languishing. Teaching barren moors

coy Spring,

to smile.

Painting pictures mile on mile,

Holds a cup with cowslip-wreaths,

Whence a smokeless incense breathes. The air is full of whistlings bland What was that I heard Out of the hazy land ? Harp of

the wind, or song of bird.

vagrant booming of the

Voice of a meteor

air,

day

tidings of the starry sphere

Such

Can

lost in

convey.

this elastic air

Or haply 't was the cannonade Of the pent and darkened lake, Cooled by the pendent mountain's shade, deeps, till beams of noonday break.

Whose

Afflicted

Even

moan, and

into

May

latest

hold

the iceberg cold.

Was it a squirrel's pettish bark. Or clarionet of jay or hark ?

;

MAY-DAY

Where yon wedged

Nestor leads.

line the

Steering north with raucous cry

Through

tracts

and provinces of sky,

Every night alighting down In new landscapes of romance.

Where .dartling^ed the clamorous By lonely lakes to men unknown.

Come

the tumult

whence

clans

will,

Voice of sport, or rush of wings. It

That

And

a sound,

it is

a token

the marble sleep

broken.

a change has passed on things.

When All was

late I

stiff

walked, in earlier days.

and stark;

Knee-deep snows choked

all

the ways.

In the sky no spark;

Firm-braced

sought

ancient woods,

Struggling through the drifted roads

The

whited desert

knew me

not,

Snow-ridges masked each darling spot

The summer dells, by genius haunted. One arctic moon had disenchanted. All the sweet secrets therein hid

By Fancy,

ghastly spells undid.

Eldest mason, Frost, had piled Swift cathedrals in the wild

The

;

piny hosts were sheeted ghosts

In the

star-lit

minster aisled.

MAY-DAY

165

no joy the icy wind Might rule the forest to his mind. Who would freeze on frozen lakes ? Back to books and sheltered home. And wood-fire flickering on the walls, To hear, when, 'mid our talk and games, Without the baffled North-wind calls. But soft a sultry morning breaks The ground-pines wash their rusty green, I found

The

maple-tops their crimson

the soft path each track

The The

girl's foot

leaves

its

tint.

seen.

neater print.

pebble loosened from the frost

Asks of In

;

flint

the urchin to be tost.

and marble beats a heart.

The The

green lane

Low

leaves his quarrel apprehend.

kind Earth takes her children's part. is

the school-boy's friend.

The fresh ground loves his top and The air rings jocund to his call. The brimming brook invites a leap,

ball.

dives the hollow, climbs the steep.

The youth sees omens where he goes, And speaks all languages the rose, The wood-fly mocks with tiny voice The far halloo of human voice The perfumed berry on the spray ;

Smacks of

faint

memories

far

away.

subtle chain of countless rings

;

MAY-DAY

The And,

next into the farthest brings, striving to be

Mounts through

The

the spires of form.

all

caged linnet in the Spring

Hearkens

When

man, the worm

for the choral glee.

his fellows

on the wing

Migrate from the Southern Sea

When And The

;

trellised grapes their flowers

unmask.

the new-born tendrils twine. old wine darkling in the cask

Feels the bloom on the living vine.

And And

bursts the hoops at hint of Spring so,

Eden's bower some dream-like trace

Survived the Flight and

And wakes

the Flood,

the wish in youngest blood

feed once

ever

May

And '

swam

tread the forfeit Paradise,

And And In

perchance, in Adam's race.

when

the exile's eyes

happy

the

child

beholds the blooming wild.

hears in heaven the bluebird sing,

Onward,' he In the next

And

o'er

cries,

your baskets bring,

field is air

yon hazy

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

more mild.

crest

Eden's balmier spring.'

Not for a regiment's parade. Nor evil laws or rulers made. Blue Walden rolls its cannonade.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; MAY-DAY But

167

for a lofty sign

Which That

the Zodiac threw,

the bondage-days are told.

And waters free as winds shall flow. Lo how all the tribes combine !

rout the flying foe.

See, every patriot oak-leaf throws

His

elfin length

upon the snows.

Not idle, since the leaf all day Draws to the spot the solar ray. Ere sunset quarrying inches down,

And

halfway to the mosses brown

While the grass beneath the rime Has hints of the propitious time, And upward pries and perforates Through the cold slab a thousand

;

gates.

Till green lances peering through

Bend happy

in the

As we thaw So Spring

welkin blue.

frozen flesh with snow,

will not her time forerun.

Mix polar night with tropic glow. Nor cloy us with unshaded sun. Nor wanton skip with bacchic dance, But she has the temperance gods, whereof she is one,

Of the Masks Under

her treasury of heat east

winds crossed with

sleet.

Plants and birds and humble creatures

;

! ;

;

MAY-DAY

Well accept her

rule austere

Titan-born, to hardy natures

Cold '

genial and dear.

As Southern wrath

Northern right

Is but straw to anthracite

in the

When The

day of

sacrifice,

heroes piled the pyre,

dismal Massachusetts ice

Burned more than

others' fire.

So Spring guards with surface cold

The

garnered heat of ages old.

Hers to sow the seed of bread. That man and all the kinds be fed And, when the sunlight fills the hours. Dissolves the crust, displays the flowers.

Beneath the calm, within the

light,

hid unruly appetite

Of swifter

life,

a surer hope.

Strains every sense to larger scope,

Impatient to anticipate

The

halting steps of aged Fate.

Slow grows the palm, too slow the

When

Nature

Grasp the

falters, fain

felloes

of her wheel.

And grasping give the orbs another Turn swiftlier round, O tardy ball And sun this frozen side. Bring hither back the robin's Bring back the

pearl

would zeal

tulip's pride.

call.

whirl.

;

MAY-DAY Why The The

169

chidest thou the tardy Spring

hardy bunting does not chide blackbirds

With

make

the maples ring

and jubilee

social cheer

;

The The The

redwing

Her

nest beside the snow-drift weaves,

robins

flutes his o-ka-ke.

know

the melting

snow

sparrow meek, prophetic-eyed.

Secure the osier yet will hide

Her callow brood

And

Why To

thou, by science

mantling leaves, all

only must thy reason

fail

see the southing of the sun

The

world

Befalls again

rolls

round,

what once

—

undone.

—

mistrust

not,

befell

All things return, both sphere and mote.

And I shall hear my bluebird's note. And dream the dream of Auburn dell. April cold with dropping rain

Willows and

lilacs

brings again.

The And trumpet-lowing of the herds. The scarlet maple-keys betray What potent blood hath modest May, What fiery force the earth renews. The wealth of forms, the flush of hues What joy in rosy waves outpoured whistle of returning birds,

Flows from the heart of Love,

;

the Lord.

—

;

MAY-DAY

170 Hither

the storm of heat

rolls

I feel its finer billows beat

Like a sea which

Heat with viewless

infolds;

moulds.

fingers

Swells, and mellows, and matures. Paints,

and

flavors,

and

allures,

Bird and brier inly warms. Still

enriches and transforms.

Gives the reed and

Adds

to oak and

lily

length,

oxen strength,

Transforming what Life out of death,

new

doth infold, out of old.

Painting fawns' and leopards'

fells,

Seethes the gulf-encrimsoning shells. Fires gardens with a joyful blaze

Of tulips,

in the morning's rays.

The dead log touched bursts into The wheat-blade whispers of the What god is this imperial Heat,

leaf.

sheaf.

Earth's prime secret, sculpture's seat

Doth

bear hidden in

Water-line patterns of Is

Daedalus

is it

its

all art ?

Love

Or walks in mask almighty Jove, And drops from Power's redundant All seeds of beauty to be born

Where And duly

shall

heart

we keep

the holiday,

greet the entering

May ?

horn

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ;

MAY-DAY Too And Nor

strait

and low our cottage doors,

unmeet our carpet

all

171

floors;

spacious court, nor monarch's hall,

Suffice to hold the festival.

and away

where haughty woods

Front the liberated floods

We will Hear

climb the broad-backed

the uproar of their joy

will

Of the

mark the

leaps and gleams

new-delivered streams.

And the murmuring rivers Mount in the pipes of the Giddy with day,

Which

topmost

its

powdery cap

the love in

its

carol heard.

golden spots

cheerful cries of crag and plain

Reply to the thunder of

;

lizard in holiday coats.

turtle brave in his

While

As poured

spire,

the colors of joy in the bird.

Frog and

And

to the

of sap trees.

for a spike of tender green

Bartered

And And

hills,

;

Spilling over

Bending

river

and main.

the flood of the ancient sea

mountain chains.

forests as

bends the sedge,

Faster flowing o'er the plains,

world-wide wave with a foaming edge

That rims

the running silver sheet,

So pours the deluge of the heat

MAY-DAY

172

Broad northward o'er the land, Painting artless paradises,

Drugging herbs with Syrian Fanning

secret fires

spices,

which glow

In columbine and clover-blow.

Climbing the northern zones.

Where Lie

thousand

like cockles

towns

pallid

by the main,

Or tented armies on a plain. The million-handed sculptor moulds Quaintest bud and blossom folds.

The

million-handed painter pours

Opal hues and purple dye; Azaleas flush the island

And

floors.

the tints of heaven reply.

Wreaths

To-day

for the

May

shall all her

for

dowry

happy Spring

bring.

The love of kind, the joy, the Hymen of element and race.

grace.

Knowing well to celebrate With song and hue and star and state. With tender light and youthful cheer,

The

spousals of the new-born year.

Spring

strong and virtuous,

Broad-sowing, cheerful, plenteous.

Quickening underneath the mould Grains beyond the price of gold.

;

MAY-DAY So deep and

large her bounties are,

jThat one broad, long midsummer day Shall to the planet overpay

The

ravage of a year of war.

Drug

And The

the cup, thou butler sweet.

send the nectar round feet that slid so

Are glad Fill

according to

its

mind,

each kind and saturate

With good

And

agreeing with

soft perfection

Willow and

sleet

and saturate each kind

With good Fill

long on

to feel the ground.

The

violet,

its fate.

its

plan

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

maiden and man.

bitter-sweet, the haunting air

Creepeth, bloweth everywhere It preys

Blooms

all, all

prey on

it.

in beauty, thinks in wit.

Stings the strong with enterprise,

Makes

travellers long for Indian skies.

And where Fans

comes

this courier fleet

in all hearts expectance sweet.

to-morrow should redeem

The vanished rose of evening's dream. By houses lies a fresher green. On men and maids a ruddier mien, As if Time brought a new relay

;;

;

MAY-DAY

174

shining virgins every

And Summer came

May, maids

to ripen

a beauty that not fades.

saw the bud-crowmed Spring go

forth.

Stepping daily onvv'ard north

greet staid ancient cavaliers

Filing single in stately train.

And who, and who are the travellers ? They were Night and Day, and Day and

Night,

Pilgrims wight with step forthright. I

saw the Days deformed and low.

Short and bent by cold and

The merry

snow

Spring threw wreaths on them.

Flower-wreaths gay with bud and

Many

a flower and

many

bell

a gem.

They were refreshed by the smell, They shook the snow from hats and shoon. They put their April raiment on And those eternal forms. Unhurt by a thousand storms. Shot up to the height of the sky again.

And I

danced as merrily as young men.

saw them mask

Sidewise

And It

meek

to speak

was

their

awful glance

gossamer thought

lids

as if the eternal gods.

Tired of their starry periods.

Hid

their majesty in cloth

;

none

forbids

;

MAY-DAY Woven

175

of tulips and painted moth.

march Below May's well-appointed arch. Each star, each god, each grace amain. Every joy and virtue speed. Marching duly in her train. carpets green the maskers

And Is

Nature

fainting

made whole

'T was

her need

again.

the vintage-day of

When

magic wine for bards

Every

tree

brewed

and stem and chink

Gushed with syrup

The

and wood,

field

to the brink.

of towns.

air stole into the streets

Refreshed the wise, reformed the clowns,

And

betrayed the fund of joy

To the high-school and medalled On from hall to chamber ran. From youth

To â&#x20AC;˘

to maid,

boy

from boy to man,

babes, and to old eyes as well.

Once

more,' the old

man

cried,

ye clouds,

Airy turrets purple-piled.

Which

once

Beguile

infancy beguiled.

with the wonted

spell.

I know ye skilful to convoy The total freight of hope and

joy

Into rude and homely nooks.

Shed mocking

lustres

on shelf of books,

farmer's byre, on pasture rude,

MAY-DAY

176

And

stony pathway to the wood.

I care not if the

Be what they

yon realms

pomps you show

soothfast appear, in sunset

glow

Be bubbles of the atmosphere.

And

be to you allowed

fool

So only new

with a shining cloud, griefs are

consoled

By new

delights, as old

Frankly

I will

by old.

be your guest.

Count your change and cheer the

The

best.

world hath overmuch of pain,

If Nature give

Of such Ah

deceit I

well I

joy again.

'11

not complain.'

mind the

calendar.

Faithful through a thousand years,

Of the Exact

painted race of flowers. to days, exact to hours,

Counted on the spacious

dial

Yon broidered zodiac girds. I know the trusty almanac

Of the

On I

punctual coming-back,

their

due days, of the birds.

marked them yestermorn, flock of finches darting

Beneath the crystal arch, Piping, as they flew, a march,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Belike the one they used in parting

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

MAY-DAY

177

Last year from yon oak or larch

Dusky sparrows

in a

crowd.

Diving, darting northward

Suddenly betook them

Every one

free.

all.

to his hole in the wall,

to his niche in the apple-tree.

I greet with joy the choral trains

Fresh from palms and Cuba's canes. Best gems of Nature's cabinet,

With dews of tropic morning

wet.

Beloved of children, bards and Spring,

birds,

your perfect virtues bring.

Your song, your forms, your rhythmic Your manners for the heart's delight.

flight,

Nestle in hedge, or barn, or roof.

Here weave your chamber weather-proof, Forgive our harms, and condescend

To man, as to a lubber friend. And, generous, teach his awkward Courage and probity and grace Poets praise that hidden wine

Hid in milk we drew At the barrier of Time, When our life was new.

We had eaten fairy fruit, We were quick from head to foot. All the forms we looked on shone As with diamond dews thereon. IX

race

;

MAY-DAY

178

What cared we for costly joys. The Museum's far-fetched toys? Gleam of sunshine on

the wall

Poured a deeper cheer than

The

revels of the Carnival.

a pine-grove did prefer

all

a marble theatre,

Could with gods on mallows dine,

Nor

cared for spices or for wine.

Wreaths of mist and rainbow spanned. Arch on arch, the grimmest land Whistle of a woodland bird

Made

the pulses dance.

Note of horn

in valleys

Filled the region with

None can

How

tell

how

virtuous, the

heard

romance.

sweet,

morning

air

Every accent vibrates well

Not

alone the wood-bird's call,

shouting boys that chase their

Pass the height of minstrel

ball.

skill.

But the ploughman's thoughtless

cry,

Lowing oxen, sheep that bleat. And the joiner's hammer-beat. Softened are above their will.

Take

tones from groves they wandered through

flutes

which passing angels blew.

All grating discords melt,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; MAY-DAY No

dissonant note

And

dealt.

though thy voice be

Like rasping

Such

Echo

And

file

shrill

steel.

the temper of the air.

waits with art and care.

will the faults

of song repair.

So by remote Superior Lake,

And by

When And The

resounding Mackinac,

northern storms the forest shake.

billows on the long beach break, artful

Air will separate

Note by note Smothering

all

sounds that grate.

her ample breast

All but godlike words,

Reporting to the happy ear

Only

purified accords.

Strangely wrought from barking waves. Soft music daunts the Indian braves,

Convent-chanting which the child

Hears pealing from the panther's cave

And

the impenetrable wild.

Soft on the South-wind sleeps the haze

So on thy broad mystic van Lie the opal-colored days.

And

waft the miracle to man.

Soothsayer of the eldest gods,

Repairer of what harms betide.

179

;

MAY-DAY

i8o

Revealer of the inmost powers

Prometheus proffered, Jove denied Disclosing treasures more than true,

what

far

to-morrow due

Speaking by the tongues of flowers.

the ten-tongued laurel speaking.

Singing by the oriole songs,

Heart of bird the man's heart seeking

Whispering hints of treasure hid

Under Morn's

unlifted lid.

Islands looming just beyond

The dim

Who

horizon's utmost bound;

can, like thee, our rags upbraid,

Or taunt us with Or who like thee

our hope decayed

snare

genius, wiles and blandishment

There

persuade.

Making the splendor of the air, The morn and sparkling dew, a Or who resent

Thy

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

no orator

prevails

beckon or persuade

Like thee the youth or maid

Thy Thy Thy

birds, thy songs, thy brooks, thy gales.

blooms, thy kinds, echoes in the wilderness.

Soothe pain, and age, and love's distress. Fire fainting will, and build heroic minds.

;

MAY-DAY For thou, All that high

still

his

Spring

God

Rebuild the ruin,

Chemist

did

arm and

vamp

i8i

canst renovate

first

create.

architect.

mend

defect

old worlds with

new,

,'':-

Coat sea and sky with heavenlier blue,

New And

tint the

plumage of the

Sweep

ruins from the scarped mountain.

Cleanse the torrent

at the fountain.

Purge alpine

air

Bring to

mother

Not

birds.

slough decay from grazing herds.

fair

by towns

defiled.

fairer child.

renew the heart and brain, Scatter the sloth, wash out the stain. less

Make

the aged eye sun-clear.

parting soul bring grandeur near. ^

Under Masks

gentle types,

Spring \

the might of Nature's king,

energy that searches thorough

From Chaos

to the

dawning morrow

our human plight.

Into

all

The

soul's pilgrimage

and

flight

In city or in solitude. Step by step,

Without

lifts

bad to good.

halting, without rest,

Lifting Better up to Best

Planting seeds of knowledge pure.

Through

earth to ripen, through heaven endure.

THE ADIRONDACS A JOURNAL DEDICATED TO MY FELLOW TRAVELLERS Wise and

polite,

Their several

— and

portraits,

AUGUST,

l8s8

drew

if I

you would

own

Chaucer had no such worthy crew,

Nor Boccace

Decameron.

crossed Champlain to Keeseville with our friends,

Thence,

in strong

country carts, rode up the forks

the Ausable stream, intent to reach

The

Adirondac

chose our boats

Ten men,

lakes. ;

;

At Martin's Beach each

ten guides, our

man

a boat and guide,

company

—

all told.

Next morn, we swept with oars the Saranac, With skies of benediction, to Round Lake, Where all the sacred mountains drew around us, Tahawus, Seaward, Maclntyre, Baldhead, other Titans without muse or name.

And

Pleased with these grand companions,

glide on.

Instead of flowers, crowned with a wreath of

made our

distance wider, boat from boat.

As each would hear the oracle alone. By the bright morn the gay flotilla slid

hills.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; THE ADIRONDACS

183

Through files of flags that gleamed like bayonets, Through gold-moth-haunted beds of pickerel-flower, Through scented banks of lilies white and gold,

Where

the deer feeds at night, the teal by day,

through the Upper Saranac, and up

Pere Raquette stream, to a small tortuous pass

Winding through

grassy shallows in and out,

Two creeping miles of rushes, pads and sponge. To Follansbee Water and the Lake of Loons. Northward the length of Follansbee we rowed. Under low mountains, whose unbroken ridge Ponderous with beechen

pause and council

Due

east a bay

forest sloped the shore.

then, where near the head

makes inward

to the land

Between two rocky arms, we climb the bank,

And

in the twilight of the forest

Wield

the

cut

first

young

noon

axe these echoes ever heard. trees to

make our

poles and thwarts.

Barked the white spruce to weatherfend the

Then

roof.

struck a light and kindled the camp-fire.

The wood was

sovran with centennial trees,

Oak, cedar, maple, poplar, beech and fir. Linden and spruce. In strict society Three conifers, white, pitch and Norway

pine.

Five-leaved, three-leaved and two-leaved, grew thereby.

Our patron pine was fifteen feet in girth. The maple eight, beneath its shapely tower.

;

THE ADIRONDACS

i84 '

;

Welcome

leaves,

the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

'Welcome, though

wood-god murmured through the unknowing, yet known to

late,

me.'

Evening drew on

Which

;

stars

peeped through maple-boughs,

o'erhung, like a cloud, our camping

Decayed

fire.

millennial trunks, like moonlight flecks,

Lit with phosphoric crumbs the forest floor.

Ten

scholars,

wonted

to lie

warm and

soft

In well-hung chambers daintily bestowed, Lie here on hemlock-boughs, like Sacs and Sioux,

And So

greet

unanimous the joyful change.

fast will

Though

Nature acclimate her sons.

late returning to

Off" soundings,

And,

her pristine ways.

seamen do not

suffer cold

in the forest, delicate clerks,

unbrowned.

Sleep on the fragrant brush, as on down-beds.

with the dawn, they fancied the light

That

air

circled freshly in their forest dress

Made them

to boys again.

Happier that they

Slipped off their pack of duties, leagues behind.

No No No

the

first

mounting of the giant

placard on these rocks

warned

stairs.

to the polls,

door-bell heralded a visitor.

courier waits, no letter

came or went,

Nothing was ploughed, or reaped, or bought, or The frost might glitter, it would blight no crop.

The

falling rain will spoil

no holiday.

sold

;

THE ADIRONDACS

We were made freemen

185

of the forest laws.

All dressed, like Nature,

fit

for her

own

ends,

Essaying nothing she cannot perform.

In Adirondac lakes,

At morn

or noon, the guide rows bareheaded

Shoes, flannel

His brief

and kersey trousers make

shirt,

toilette

at night, or in the rain.

dons a surcoat which he dofFs

morn

paddle in the right hand, or an oar,

And in the left, a gun, his needful By turns we praised the stature of Their

To To

rival strength

our guides.

and suppleness, their

skill

row, to swim, to shoot, to build a camp. climb a lofty stem, clean without boughs

Full

fifty feet,

Temper And wit

and bring the eaglet down

to trap or take

him

;

in his lair.

and innocent.

frolic

In winter, lumberers

Their sinewy arms

summer, guides

pull at the oar untired

Three times ten thousand

Look

to face wolf, bear, or catamount.

Sound, ruddy men,

arms.

strokes,

from morn

to yourselves, ye polished gentlemen

city airs or arts pass current here.

Your rank

Bow

is all

reversed

;

let

men of cloth

to the stalwart churls in overalls

They are the doctors of the wilderness.

And we

the low-prized laymen.

to eve.

;

THE ADIRONDACS

In sooth, red flannel

a saucy test

Which few can put on with impunity. What make you, master, fumbling at the Will you catch crabs

Truth

oar

pretension here.

tries

The sallow knows the basket-maker's thumb; The oar, the guide's. Dare you accept the tasks He shall impose, to find a spring, trap foxes, Tell the sun's time, determine the true north,

stumbling on through vast self-similar woods

thread by night the nearest

way

camp

Ask you, how went the hours ? we swept the lake, searched every

cove.

All day

Camp

North from

Maple, south to Osprey Bay,

Watching when

the loud dogs should drive in deer.

rough surface for a trout

whipping

its

Or, bathers, diving from the rock

noon

Challenging Echo by our guns and cries

Or Or,

listening to the laughter of the loon in the

;

evening twilight's latest red.

Beholding the procession of the pines

Or,

;

later yet,

;

beneath a lighted jack,

In the boat's bows, a silent night-hunter Stealing with paddle to the feeding-grounds

Of the Hark

red deer, to aim at a square mist.

to that

Is fallen

Who

muiBed roar

but hush

a tree in the

woods

has not scared the buck

stands astonished at the meteor light,

Then, turns

bound away,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

is it

too late

;

THE ADIRONDACS Our

heroes tried their

rifles at

187

a mark,

Six rods, sixteen, twenty, or forty-five

Sometimes

With

their wits at sally

and

retort.

laughter sudden as the crack of

rifle

parties scaled the near acclivities

Competing seekers of

Whose

rumored

unauthenticated waves

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; our

Lake

Probability,

Long

sought, not found.

lake.

we named

carbuncle,

Two

Doctors

in the

camp

Dissected the slain deer, weighed the trout's brain.

Captured the Crab, mice,

lizard, salamander, shrew.

snail, dragon-fly,

minnow and moth

Insatiate skill in water or in air

Waved the The while, Gave an Not less

scoop-net, and nothing

came amiss;

one leaden pot of alcohol

impartial

tomb

to all the kinds.

the ambitious botanist sought plants.

Orchis and gentian, fern and long whip-scirpus.

Rosy polygonum, lake-margin's pride, Hypnum and hydnum, mushroom,

sponge

and

moss.

harebell nodding in the gorge of

Above, the eagle

The

raven croaked, owls hooted, the woodpecker

Loud hammered, and the heron rose As water poured through hollows of

falls.

flew, the osprey screamed.

in the

swamp.

the hills

feed this wealth of lakes and rivulets.

;

THE ADIRONDACS

So Nature shed

From

all

beauty lavishly

her redundant horn.

Lords of

this

realm.

Bounded by dawn and sunset, and the day Rounded by hours where each outdid the last In miracles of pomp, we must be proud.

if associates

of the sylvan gods.

seemed the dwellers of the zodiac,

So pure the Alpine element we breathed. So

light, so lofty pictures

trode on

air,

contemned the

timorous ways, big

Its

That we should

came and went.

trifles,

should

Hereafter,

willing they, and

Hard

The

fare,

town,

build, hard-by, a spacious lodge

And how we

—

distant

and we planned

come

hither with our sons,

adroit.

hard bed and comic misery,

—

midge, the blue-fly and the mosquito

Painted our necks, hands, ankles, with red bands

But, on the second day,

Nay, we

Whom

saluted

earlier

them

we had

For who defends our

we heed them

not.

Auxiliaries,

chid with spiteful names.

leafy tabernacle

From

bold intrusion of the travelling crowd,

Who

but the midge, mosquito and the

Which

fly.

past endurance sting the tender cit.

But which we learn

—

baffle

by a

veil,

to scatter with a

or slight by scorn

smudge. ?

;

THE ADIRONDACS Our foaming

ale

189

we drank from hunters' Our steward gave

pans,

Ale, and a sup of wine.

Venison and

trout, potatoes, beans, wheat-bread

All ate like abbots, and,

any missed

Their wonted convenance, cheerly hid the

loss

With hunters' appetite and peals of mirth. And Stillman, our guides' guide, and Commodore, Crusoe, Crusader, Pius JEneas, said aloud,

" Chronic dyspepsia never came from eating

Food

indigestible "

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Nor

then murmured some.

who

Others applauded him

spoke the truth.

doubt but visitings of graver thought

Checked in these souls the turbulent heyday 'Mid all the hints and glories of the home. For who can tell what sudden privacies Were sought and found, amid the hue and cry

Of scholars

furloughed from their tasks and

let

Into this Oreads' fended Paradise,

chapels in the city's thoroughfares.

Whither gaunt Labor

And

meditate a

slips to

each apart,

lifting

surprises

as through

So through

all

rest.

Nature spoke

her lovely shows

spiritual lessons pointed

And

brow

his

moment on Heaven's

Judge with what sweet

To To

wipe

dreams

home,

watches of the night.

creatures in their form and

Some mystic hint accosts the vigilant. Not clearly voiced, but waking a new

ways

sense

THE ADIRONDACS

Inviting to

Hark

to that petulant chirp

Mark

Now

new knowledge, one with ways

his capricious

soar again.

What

what

old.

ails

draw the

the warbler eye.

wilt thou, restless bird,

Seeking in that chaste blue a bluer

light,

^Thirsting in that pure for a purer sky

And presently the sky is changed O world What pictures and what harmonies are thine The clouds are rich and dark, the air serene, So like the soul of me, what if 't were me ? ;

melancholy better than

Comes

all

mirth.

the sweet sadness at the retrospect,

at the foresight

of obscurer years

Like yon slow-sailing cloudy promontory

Whereon

the purple

Superior to

And,

The

that

all its

no day of

dwells in beauty

iris

gaudy life

skirts.

may

lack romance.

spiritual stars rise nightly,

private

beam

shedding

down

into each several heart.

Daily the bending skies

solicit

man.

The seasons chariot him from this exile, The rainbow hours bedeck his glowing chair. The storm-winds urge the heavy weeks along. Suns haste to

set, that so

Beckon the wanderer

With

When

remoter lights

to his vaster

a vermilion pencil

of our

little fleet

mark

home.

the day

three cruising skifFs

;

THE ADIRONDACS

191

Entering Big Tupper, bound for the foaming Falls

Of loud Bog

Two

River, suddenly confront

of our mates returning with swift oars.

One

held a printed journal waving high

Caught from

a late-arriving traveller,

Big with great news, and shouted the report

For which

Of the And

the world had waited,

now

firm fact.

wire-cable laid beneath the sea,

landed on our coast, and pulsating

With From

ductile

Greet

the

Loud, exulting

fire.

cries

boat to boat, and to the echoes round. glad

Thought's

miracle.

new-found

path Shall supplement henceforth all trodden ways.

Match God's

And

lift

Worthy

When

the enormous cloud of witnesses.

Of such

few moments

in the longest life

wonder

delight and

as there grew,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

yet unsuited to that solitude

burst of joy, as if

art,

linked hemispheres attest his deed.

We have Nor

equator with a zone of

man's public action to a height

ears intelligent

And

cedar grove and

This

feat

we men were

of wit,

Of sympathy

told the fact

as if gray rock

;

this

clifF

and lake should know

triumph of mankind

talking in a vein

so large, that ours

was

theirs,

And a prime end of the most subtle element Were fairly reached at last. Wake, echoing caves

;

THE ADIRONDACS

192

Bend

nearer, faint

day-moon

Let them hear well

't is

Yon

theirs as

and Andes,

isle

and continent.

Urging astonished Chaos with a

thrill

be a brain, or serve the brain of man.

The

as ours.

spasm throbbing through the pedestals

Of Alp

thundertops,

much

lightning has run masterless too long;

must

And

to school and learn his verb

and noun

teach his nimbleness to earn his wage.

Spelling with guided tongue man's messages

Shot through the weltering

And

pit

yet I marked, even in the

Of our

great-hearted

(Perchance

Doctor

I erred), a

of the

manly joy

in his boat

shade of discontent

Or was

As of a

luck not quite legitimate.

for

salt sea.

mankind a generous shame.

Since fortune snatched from wit the lion's part

Was j

a college pique of

As one within whose memory it burned That not academicians, but some lout, Found ten years since the Californian gold And now, again, a hungry company

Of traders,

led

town and gown,

by .corporate-5ons oÂŁ t rade,

Perversely borrowing from the shop the tools

Of science,

not from the philosophers.

Had won the brightest laurel of all time. 'T was always thus, and will be hand and head ;

Are ever

rivals

but, though this be swift.

THE ADIRONDACS The And

other slow,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

this the

that the Jove,

yet,

193

Prometheus,

howsoever

hid,

was from Jove the other stole his fire. And, without Jove, the good had never been. It

not Iroquois or cannibals.

It is

But ever the

And

these instructed

Who

with front sublime.

free race

do the

feat,

and

their wisest too.

lift

humanity.

Let not him mourn who best

entitled was.

Nay, mourn not one

exult.

Yea, plant the

And

water

let

him

tree that bears best apples, plant.

with wine, nor watch askance

Whether thy sons or strangers eat the fruit Enough that mankind eat and are refreshed.

away from

flee

cities,

but

bring

The

best of cities with us, these learned classifiers.

Men

knowing what they

We praise But

will

the guide,

sacrifice

seek,

armed eyes of experts.

praise the forest life

our dear-bought lore

books and

count the Sioux a match for Agassiz

arts

and trained experiment. ?

we Witness the shout that shook Wild Tupper Lake witness the mute all-hail The joyful traveller gives, when on the verge no, not

;

Of craggy From

On '

Beethoven's note s

the piano, played with miaster's hand.

Well done IX

Indian wilderness he hears

a log cabin strea

he cries

;

the bear

kept at bay,

;

;;;

;

THE ADIRONDACS

194

The

lynx, the rattlesnake, the flood, the

fire

All the fierce enemies, ague, hunger, cold.

This thin spruce

roof, this clayed log-wall.

This wild plantation

Now

will suffice to chase.

speed the gay celerities of

What

in the desert

Within four walls Culture and

art.

was impossible is

possible again,

mysteries of

libraries,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

skill,

Traditioned fame of masters, eager

strife

Of keen competing youths, joined or alone To outdo each other and extort applause. Mind wakes

a new-born giant from her sleep.

Twirl the old wheels

Time

takes fresh start again,

for a thousand years of genius more.'

The holidays were fruitful, but must end One August evening had a cooler breath Into each mind intruding duties crept

;

Under the cinders burned the fires of home; Nay, letters found us in our paradise So in the gladness of the new event We struck our camp and left the happy hills.

The The The And

fortunate star that rose on-<us sank not prodigal sunshine rested rivers

on the land,

gambolled onward to the sea.

Nature, the inscrutable and mute.

Permitted on her infinite repose

Almost a smile

one

to steal to cheer her sons,

riddle of the

Sphinx were guesse(i.3

;

;;

BRAHMA If the red slayer think he

if the slain

They know I keep,

slays,

think he

is slain,

not well the subtle ways

and pass, and turn again.

Far or forgot

Shadow and

near

sunlight are the

same;

The vanished gods to me appear; And one to me are shame and fame. They reckon When me I

am the And I

ill

who

they

leave

fly, I

out

the wings

doubter and the doubt, the

hymn

the Brahmin sings.

The strong gods pine for my abode, And pine in vain the sacred Seven But thou, meek lover of the good

Find me, and turn thy back on heavea,

;

NEMESIS Already blushes on thy cheek The bosom thought which thou must The bird, how far it haply roam By cloud or isle, is flying home; The maiden fears, and fearing runs

speak;

Into the charmed snare she shuns

And

every man, in love or pride,

Of his

fate

Will

woman's

Or Or Or

never wide.

smooth

fan the ocean

prayers the stony Parcae soothe.

coax the thunder from

its

tapers light the chaos dark

In spite of Virtue and the

Nemesis

And

all

will

mark ?

Muse,

have her dues,

our struggles and our

Tighter wind the giant

coils.

toils

;

FATE Deep

in the

mould

Unknown

Was

man

sits fast his fate

his fortunes,

mean

or great

Cromwell

as to

Cromwell's measure or degree

Unknown

him

as to his horse.

If he than his groom be better or worse.

works, plots,

With

fights, in

rude

affairs,

squires, lords, kings, his craft compares.

Till late he learned, through doubt and fear,

Broad England harbored not

Obeying time, the

last to

The Genius from

its

For the prevision

Unto

his peer

own

cloudy throne.

allied

the thing so signified

;

say, the foresight that awaits

Is the

same Genius

that creates.

n^,

^(jx*-'^'' ,,

''"

; ;; :

FREEDOM Once

wished

Freedom's pxan

That

the slave

might rehearse

who

verse,

caught the strain

Should throb until he snapped his chain.

But the Speak

Spirit said,

Not

not, or speak

Name

low

not lightly to be said.

Gift too precious to be prayed. Passion not to be expressed

But by heaving of the breast Yet,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; wouldst thou

Where

Who

the mountain find

this deity is shrined,

and sunset skies

gives to seas

Their unspent beauty of surprise.

And, when

him, waken can

lists

Brute or savage into

Or,

if in

man

;

thy heart he shine.

Blends the starry fates with thine.

Draws

angels nigh to dwell with thee.

And makes

thy thoughts archangels be

Freedom's secret wilt thou know Counsel not with

flesh

and blood;

Loiter not for cloak or food

Right thou

feelest,

rush to do.'

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

}

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

ODE SUNG IN THE TOWN HALL, CONCORD, JULY

TENDERLY

1857

the haughty day

Fills his blue

urn with

fire;

One morn is in the mighty And one in our desire.

heaven.

The cannon booms from town to town. Our pulses beat not less. The joy-bells chime their tidings down. Which children's voices bless. For

that flung the broad blue fold

O'er-mantling land and sea,

One

third part

of the sky unrolled

For the banner of the

The men

are ripe of

free.

Saxon kind

To build an equal state, To take the statute from the And make United States

of duty

mind

fate.

the ages plead,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Present and Past in.under-son| Go put your creed into your deed.

Nor

speak with double tongue.

ODE

200 For

sea

Nor

and land don't understand, skies without a

frown

See rights for which the one hand fights

By Be

the other cloven

just at

home

Of honor And

A And

;

down.

then write your scroll

o'er the sea,

bid the broad Atlantic roll, ferry of the free.

henceforth there shall be no chain,

Save underneath the sea

The

wires shall

murmur through

Sweet songs of

the

liberty.

The conscious stars accord above. The waters wild below, And under, through the cable wove, Her For

fiery errands go.

Nor

that

worketh high and wise.

pauses in his plan.

Will take the sun out of the

Ere freedom out of man.

skies

main

;

BOSTON HYMN READ IN MUSIC HALL, JANUARY

I, 1

The word of the Lord by night To the watching Pilgrims came, As

they sat by the seaside.

And

filled their

God

said, I

hearts with flame.

tired

of kings,

them no more; my ear the morning brings

I suffer

The

outrage of the poor.

Think ye

field

Where

made

this ball

of havoc and war. tyrants great and tyrants small

Might harry the weak and poor

My angel, â&#x20AC;&#x201D; his Choose him

name

Freedom,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

to be your king

He shall cut pathways east and And fend you with his wing.

west

Lo I uncover the land Which I hid of old time in the West, As the sculptor uncovers the statue !

When

he has wrought

his best

;

BOSTON HYMN

202 I

show Columbia, of

the rocks

Which dip their foot in the seas And soar to the air-borne flocks

Of clouds

and the boreal

I will divide

fleece.

goods

Call in the wretch and slave

None shall rule but the humble. And none but Toil shall have. I will

have never a noble,

lineage counted great

Fishers and choppers and

ploughmen

Shall constitute a state.

Go, cut down

And

trees in the forest

trim the straightest boughs;

Cut down

trees in the forest

And

build

wooden house.

Call the people together,

The young men and the sires. The digger in the harvest-field. Hireling and

him

that hires

;

And here in a pine state-house They shall choose men to rule In every needful faculty. In church and state and school.

;::

BOSTON HYMN Lo, now

if these

poor

Can govern the land and sea And make just laws below the As planets faithful be.

And

'T is

nobleness to serve

shall

succor

men

sun,

;

Help them who cannot help Beware from

203

men

again

right to swerve.

I break your bonds and masterships.

And

unchain the slave

Free be

his heart

and hand henceforth

As wind and wandering wave. I cause

from every creature

His proper good to flow

As much as So much he

and doeth.

shall bestow.

But, laying hands on another

coin his labor and sweat.

goes in

For

eternal years in debt.

pawn

to his victim

To-day unbind the captive. So only are ye unbound; Lift

up a people from the

Trump

dust.

of their rescue, sound

;

BOSTON HYMN

204

Pay ransom

And

Who And

the

owner

ever was.

North

And

to the

honor,

Nevada

owner

the bag to the brim.

fill

give

The

slave

Pay him.

him beauty South

for rags,

for his

shame

coin thy golden crags

With Freedom's image and name.

and the dusky race

That sat Be swift

And

in darkness long,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

their feet as antelopes.

behemoth

strong.

Come, East and West and North, By races, as snow-flakes,

And carry my purpose forth, Which neither halts nor shakes.

will fulfilled shall be.

For, in daylight or in dark.

owner,

thunderbolt has eyes to see

His way home to the mark.

;

— — ;

VOLUNTARIES

Low

and mournful be the

strain,

Haughty thought be far from me Tones of penitence and pain, Moanings of the tropic sea

Low

and tender

Where

a captive

Crooning

From

in the cell sits in

chains.

ditties treasured

well

his Afric's torrid plains.

Sole estate his sire bequeathed,

Hapless

Was And

sire to hapless son,

—

the wailing song he breathed, his chain

when

life

was done.

What his fault, or what his crime ? planet crossed his prime ? Or what ill

Heart too

soft

and

will too

weak

front the fate that crouches near,

Dove

beneath the vulture's beak

Will song dissuade the

Dragged from

toil to

Chilled by a

arms and

his best

ribald jeer.

—

thirsty spear

his mother's

Displaced, disfurnished here.

His wistful

;

breast.

;

VOLUNTARIES

2o6 Great

men

in the Senate sate.

Sage and hero, side by

side.

Building for their sons the State,

Which they shall rule with pride. They forbore to break the chain Which bound the dusky tribe. Checked by the owners' Lured by Destiny '

Pang Hide

Union

sat by,

for

and

fierce disdain,

as the bribe. said,

pang your seed

in false

I bring

shall pay.

peace your coward head,

round the harvest day.'

Freedom all winged expands. Nor perches in a narrow place Her broad van

seeks unplanted lands

She loves a poor and virtuous race. Clinging to a colder zone

Whose dark sky sheds the snowflake down. The snowflake is her banner's star. Her stripes the boreal streamers are. Long she loved the Northman well;

Now

the iron age

done.

She will not refuse to dwell

With

the offspring of the

Foundling of the desert

Where palms

Sun

;

far.

plume, siroccos blaze,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; VOLUNTARIES He

roves unhurt the burning ways

In climates of the summer

207

has avenues to

star.

God

Hid from men of Northern brain, Far beholding, w^ithout cloud.

What

these with slowest steps attain.

If once the generous chief arrive

lead him willing For freedom he will

And

drain his heart

to be led, strike till

and

strive.

he be dead.

Ill

In an age of fops and toys.

Wanting wisdom,

Who To

shall

hazard

void of right.

nerve heroic boys

Freedom's

all in

Break sharply ofF

their jolly

fight,

games.

Forsake their comrades gay

And

homes and youthful dames

quit proud

For famine,

toil

and fray

Yet on the nimble

air

benign

Speed nimbler messages.

That waft

the breath of grace divine

hearts in sloth and ease.

So nigh

grandeur to our dust,

near

God

Sl,o

When Duty I

The

youth

man.

whispers low. Thou musty

replies,

/ can.

VOLUNTARIES

208

O, WELL for the fortunate soul Which Music's wings infold. Stealing away the memory Of sorrows new and old !

Yet happier he whose inward sight. Stayed on his subtile thought. Shuts his sense on toys of time,

vacant bosoms brought.

But best befriended of the

He who,

God

in evil times.

Warned by an inward

voice,

Heeds not the darkness and the dread, Biding by his rule and choice. Feeling only the fiery thread

Leading over heroic ground.

Walled with mortal

the aim which

And

terror round.

him

allures.

the sweet heaven his deed secures.

Peril around, all else appalling.

Cannon

Him

in front

and leaden rain

duty through the clarion calling

the van called not in vain.

Stainless soldier

Knowing Whoever

this,

on the walls.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and knows no more,

fights,

whoever

falls.

Justice conquers evermore.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

VOLUNTARIES

209

Justice after as before,

And

who

battles

on her

side,

God, though he were ten times

Crowns him

slain.

victor glorified,

Victor over death and pain.

Blooms

the laurel which belongs

the valiant chief

who

fights

I see the wreath, I hear the songs

Lauding the Eternal Rights, Victors over daily wrongs

Awful

Whom And

victors, they misguide

they will destroy.

their

coming triumph hide

In our downfall, or our joy

They

reach no term, they never sleep,

In equal strength through space abide

Though, feigning dwarfs, they crouch and creep,

The

strong they slay, the swift outstride

Fate's grass grows rank in valley clods.

And

rankly on the castled steep,

Speak

firmly, these are gods.

All are ghosts beside.

;

; ;

LOVE AND THOUGHT Two The

well-assorted travellers use

highway, Eros and the Muse.

From

the twins

the pair

Hand

nothing hidden.

nought forbidden

hand the comrades go

Every nook of Nature through

Each

for other they

Each can

other best adorn

They know one Past

all

were born,

only mortal grief

balsam or

relief;

When, by false companions crossed, The pilgrims have each other lost.

UNA Roving, roving,

Una

lights

Still for

journeys she

wander

seems,

clouded dreams

far

;

dressed

by east and west.

In the homestead, homely thought,

my work

ramble not;

home chance draw me Half-seen Una sits beside. If from

wide.

;

UNA In

211

house and garden-plot.

Though

beloved, I miss her not

But one

One

At home

The And

seek in foreign places.

face explore in foreign faces.

a deeper thought

may

light

inward sky with chrysolite. I greet

from

far the ray,

Aurora of a dearer day.

But

upon the

seas I sail.

Or trundle on the glowing rail, I am but a thought of hers. Loveliest of travellers.

So the gentle poet's name

foreign parts

Seek him

blown by fame;

in his native

town,

hidden and unknown.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

BOSTON SICUT PATRIBUS, SIT DEUS NOBIS

The

rocky nook with hilltops three Looked eastward from the farms,

And twice each day the flowing sea Took Boston in its arms The men of yore were stout and poor. And sailed for bread to every shore. And where they went on trade intent They did what freemen can. Their dauntless ways did all men praise, The merchant was a man. The world was made for honest trade,

plant and eat be

The waves

them

none

that rocked

afraid.

them on the deep

their secret told;

Said the winds that sung the lads to sleep, '

Like us be

The The

free

and bold

' !

honest waves refused to slaves

empire of the ocean caves.

Old Europe groans with palaces, Has lords enough and more ;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

BOSTON

213

We plant and build by foaming seas A city of the poor â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ;

For day by day could Boston Bay Their honest labor overpay.

We grant no dukedoms to the few. We hold like rights, and shall â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ;

Equal on Sunday

On Monday For what

in the

in the mall,

avail the

land or

pew.

life, if

plough or

freedom

sail,

fail ?

The

noble craftsman we promote. Disown the knave and fool Each honest man shall have his vote, Each chUd shall have his school.

union then of honest men,

union never more again.

The wild rose and the barberry thorn Hung out their summer pride. Where now on heated pavements worn The feet of millions stride. Fair rose the planted

hills

behind

The good town on the bay. And where the western hills declined The prairie stretched away.

— —

; ;'

BOSTON

214

What

care though rival cities soar

Along the stormy

New York

Penn's town, If Boston

coast,

knew

and Baltimore,

the most

They laughed to know the world so wide; The mountains said, Good-day '

greet

Up The

To *

you

you Saxon men.

well,

with your towns and stay

world was made for honest trade,

plant and eat be

none

afraid.

For you,' they

said, ' no barriers For you no sluggard rest;

Each

street leads

landward

downward

be.

to the sea.

to the west.'

happy town beside the

sea.

Whose roads lead everywhere to Than thine no deeper moat can be.

stouter fence,

all;

no steeper wall

Bad news from George on the English throne; '

You

Now

are thriving well,' said he

by these presents be

You

shall

known

pay us a tax on tea

'Tis very small,

Honor enough

— no load

that

at all,

send the

call.

BOSTON '

Not

so,' said

Boston,

215

good

lord,

pay your governors here

Abundant

bed and board.

for their

Six thousand pounds a year.

(Your Highness knows our homely word) Millions for self-government.

But

The

for tribute never a cent.'

cargo came

and who could blame

If Indians seized the tea,

And,

chest by chest, let

Into the laughing sea

For what

life, if

The townsmen Found

freedom

braved the English king,

their

the patriot ring

wooden bench.

day remembered yet

O happy Which

sail,

fail ?

bounteous seas that never

the same.

friendship in the French,

And honor joined

Low

plough or

avail the

land or

down ?

fail

port that spied the

wafted Lafayette

sail !

Pole-star of light in Europe's night.

That never

faltered

from the

right.

;

BOSTON

2i6

Kings shook with

The Which The But

fear, old

empires crave

secret force to find fired the little State to save

rights

right

all

mankind.

might through

all

the world

Province to province faithful clung,

Through good and ill the war-bolt hurled. Till Freedom cheered and joy-bells rung.

The

sea returning day by day

Restores the world-wide mart;

let

each dweller on the Bay

Fold Boston

in his heart,

Till these echoes be choked with snows,

over the town blue ocean flows.

Let the blood of her hundred thousands

Throb

And the Make

each manly vein

wits of

all

her wisest.

sunshine in her brain.

For you can teach the lightning speech.

And

round the globe your voices reach.

And each shall And each to

care for other.

each shall bend.

To the poor a noble brother. To the good an equal friend.

;

LETTERS â&#x20AC;&#x201D; RUBIES

217

blessing through the ages thus

Shield

thy roofs and towers

all

God with the Thou

fathers, so with us. darling town of ours !

LETTERS Every day

brings a ship,

Every ship brings a word;

Well for those who have no fear, Looking seaward, well assured That the word the vessel brings Is the

word they wish

to hear.

RUBIES They And

brought held

them

rubies from the mine. to the

sun

I said, they are drops of frozen

From Eden's I looked again,

Of friends

wine

vats that run.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

thought them hearts

to friends

unknown

;

Tides that should warm each neighboring

Are locked

in sparkling stone.

life

— —— ;

MERLIN'S SONG

2i8 But

fire

To And

thaw

that ruddy

break enchanted

snow,

ice,

give love's scarlet tides to flow,

When

sun

shall that

arise

MERLIN'S SONG

Merlin wise

learned a song,

low or sing

loud.

Sing

mightier than the strong,

And

punishes the proud.

I sing

to the surging

crowd,

Good men it will calm and cheer. Bad men it will chain and cage

—

In the heart of the music peals a strain

Which

only angels hear;

Whether it waken joy or rage Hushed myriads hark in vain, Yet they who hear it shed their

And

age,

take their youth again.

Hear what

British

Of keenest

eye and truest tongue.

Merlin sung,

Say not, the chiefs who

Usurp the

seats for

first

which

arrive

all strive

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

MERLIN'S SONG The

219

who found

forefathers this land

Failed to plant the vantage-ground

;

Ever from one who comes to-morrow Men wait their good and truth to borrow. But wilt thou measure all thy road, See thou

Who And

has

lift

the lightest load.

little,

him who has

thou, Cyndyllan's son

Ponderous gold and

falter ere

Only

can spare,

stuffs to bear.

thou thy task

fulfil,

the light-armed climb the

The And

ruddy Health the

Live

in the sunshine,

richest of all lords

hill.

Use,

loftiest

swim

Muse.

the sea.

Drink the wild

air's salubrity

When

Canope

the star

less,

beware

shines in

May,

Shepherds are thankful and nations gay.

The music that can deepest reach. And cure all ill, is cordial speech Mask thy wisdom with delight. Toy with the bow, yet hit the white.

Of all

wit's uses, the

Is to live well with

main one

who

has none.

;

THE TEST (Musa

loquitur.)

HUNG my verses in the wind, Time and tide their faults may

All were

find.

winnowed through and through,

Five lines lasted sound and true Five were smelted in a pot

Than

the South

These the

fierce

and hot

siroc could not melt,

Fire their fiercer flaming

felt.

And the meaning was more Than July's meridian light.

white

Sunshine cannot bleach the snow,

Nor

unmake what

time

Have you

Which

know.

poets

eyes to find the five

five

hundred did survive

SOLUTION I

the

Muse who sung alway

Jove, at

dawn of

the

first

day.

Star-crowned, sole-sitting, long

fire

wrought

the stagnant earth with thought

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ;

;

SOLUTION On

spawning slime

Wolves shed

221

song prevails.

their fangs,

and dragons scales

Flushed in the sky the sweet May-morn,

man was Then Asia yeaned her shepherd race, And Nile substructs her granite base, Earth smiled with flowers, and

Tented Tartary, columned Nile, And, under vines, on rocky isle. Or on wind-blown sea-marge bleak, Forward stepped the perfect Greek That wit and joy might find a tongue,

And

earth

Flown

grow

civil,

HoMER^ung.

to Italy from Greece,

I brooded long and held

For

And

am wont

in days

peace,

to sing uncalled. evil plight

Unlock doors of new delight sometimes mankind I appalled

And

With a bitter horoscope. With spasms of terror for balm of hope.

Then by

better thought I lead

Bards to speak what nations need

So I folded me in fears. And DANTE^earched the MouIdingN^ature

triple spheres,

at his will.

So shaped, so colored, swift or

And,

still.

sculptor-like, his large design

Etched on Alp and Apennine.

born.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

SOLUTION

222

Seethed in mists of Penmanmaur,

Taught by Plinlimmon's Druid power, England's genius

filled all

measure

heart and soul, of strength and pleasure.

Gave

And Nor

to the

life

was

mind

its

emperor,

larger than before

sequent centuries coiilAJiit

Orbit and

sum of Shakspeare's jivit. lived with him became

The men who I

Poets, for the air

Far

Holds

in the in

was fame.

North, where polar night

check the

frolic light.

In trance upborne past mortal goal

The Swede Emanuel

leads the soul.

Through snows above, mines underground.

The

inks of Erebus he found;

Rehearsed to

men

the

damned

which the seraph music

wails

sails.

In spirit-worlds he trod alone.

But walked the earth unmarked, unknown.

The

near bystander caught no sound,

Yet they who listened Heard rendings of the

And And

felt,

far aloof

skyey/ roof.

beneath, the quaking ground;

his air-sown,

unheeded words.

In the next age, are flaming swords.

HYMN

223

In newer days of war and trade,

Romance

When And

forgot,

and

faith decayed.

Science armed and guided war.

clerks the Janus-gates unbar,

When

France, where poet never grew,

Halved and

dealt the globe

anew,

Goethe, raised o'er joy and strife, ~Drew the firm lines of Fate and Life And brought Olympian wisdom down To court and mart, to gown and town. Stooping, his finger wrote in clay

The open

secret of to-day.

So bloom the unfading petals

And

verses that

all

five.

verse outlive.

HYMN SUNG AT THE SECOND CHURCH, AT THE ORDINATION OF REV. CHANDLER ROBBINS

We love Our

the venerable house

fathers built to

God

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

In heaven are kept their grateful vows,

Their dust endears the

sod.

;

HYMN

224

Here holy thoughts a

From many

have shed

light

a radiant face.

And prayers of humble virtue made The perfume of the place. And anxious hearts have pondered here The mystery of life, And prayed the eternal Light to clear Their doubts, and

aid their strife.

From humble tenements around Came up the pensive train. And in the church a blessing found That For

filled their

homes again

and peace and mighty love

faith

That from

the

Showred them the

Godhead flow^, of Heaven above

life

Springs from the

They

live

with

Yet here

And

God

life

;

below.

homes

their

are dust

their children pray.

in this fleeting lifetime trust

find the

narrow way.

him who by the altar stands. On him thy blessing fall,

Speak through

Thou

his lips thy

heart that lovest

pure commands, all.

NATURE

Winters know Easily to shed the snow,

And

the untaught Spring

wise

In cowslips and anemonies.

Nature, hating

Baulks and

art

and pains.

baffles plotting brains;

Casualty and Surprise

Are the apples of her eyes But she dearly loves the poor. And, by marvel of her own. ;

Strikes the loud pretender

For Nature

And

down.

listens in the rose

hearkens in the berry's bell

help her friends, to plague her foes,

And

like wise

God

she judges well.

Yet doth much her love excel

To To

the souls that never

And

Who And

fell.

swains that live in happiness

do well because they please.

walk

ways

that are

unfamed.

feats achieve before they 're

named.

;

NATURE II

She

gamesome and good,

But of mutable mood,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

dreary repeater

She

will be all things to all

She

who

now and

again,

men.

nowise feeble.

old, but

Pours her power into the people.

Merry and manifold without bar. Makes and moulds them what they And what they call their city way Is not their

are.

way, but hers.

And what they say they made to-day, They learned of the oaks and firs. She spawneth men as mallows fresh. Hero and maiden,

flesh

of her flesh

;

She drugs her water and her wheat

With the flavors she finds meet. And gives them what to drink and eat And having thus their bread and growth, They do her bidding, nothing loath.

What 's

most

theirs

But borrowed

And The

in their

not their own,

atoms from iron and stone.

vaunted works of Art

master-stroke

is still

her part.

;

THE ROMANY GIRL The

sun goes down, and with him takes

The The

coarseness of fair

poor

moon mounts, and

Of Gypsy

attire

;

aye the flame

beauty blazes higher.

Pale Northern

girls

you scorn our race

You captives of your air-tight halls. Wear out indoors your sickly days. But leave us the horizon

walls.

And if I take you, dames, to task. And say it frankly without guile, Then you are Gypsies in a mask, And I the lady all the while. If on the heath, below the moon, I court and play with paler blood.

false to

One

mine dare whisper none,

sallow horseman

knows me good.

Go, keep your cheek's rose from For teeth and hair with shopmen

My The

swarthy

the rain, deal

tint is in the grain,

rocks and forest

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

know

real.

;

DAYS

228

The wild air bloweth in our lungs, The keen stars twinkle in our eyes, The birds gave us our wily tongues. The panther in our dances flies.

You

we read the stars on high, we read your fortunes true The stars may hide in the upper sky, But without glass we fathom you. doubt

Nathless

DAYS Daughters of Time, the hypocritic Days, Muffled and dumb like barefoot dervishes, And marching single in an endless file, Bring diadems and fagots

each they oiFer

Bread, kingdoms,

in their hands.

gifts after his will.

stars,

and sky that holds them

all.

I, in

my pleached garden, watched the pomp. my morning wishes, hastily

Forgot

Took

few herbs and apples, and the

Turned and departed silent. Under her solemn fillet saw

too

Day

late,

the scorn.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

MY GARDEN If I could put my woods in song And tell what 's there enjoyed, All men would to my gardens throng, And leave the cities void.

plot

tulips

blow,

Snow-loving pines and oaks instead

And rank the savage maples grow From Spring's faint flush to Autumn

garden

red.

a forest ledge

Which older forests bound ; The banks slope down to the blue Then plunge to depths profound.

lake-edge,

Here once the Deluge ploughed. Laid the terraces, one by one

Ebbing

They

later

whence

flowed,

bleach and dry in the sun.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

The sowers made haste to depart, The wind and the birds which sowed Not

for fame, nor

rules of art,

Planted these, and tempests flowed

it.

it j

—

;

MY GARDEN

230 Waters

that

wash

garden-side

Play not in Nature's lawful web.

They heed

moon

not

or solar tide,

—

Five years elapse from flood to ebb.

Hither hasted, in old time, Jove,

And And And

every god,

— none

be sure at

last

after

did refuse

came Love,

Love, the Muse.

Keen ears can catch a syllable. As if one spalce to another. In the hemlocks

And what

tall,

untamable.

the whispering grasses smother,

^olian harps

in the pine

Ring with the song of the Fates

;

Infant Bacchus in the vine,

Far distant yet

his

Canst thou copy

Of the Write

chorus waits.

in verse

one chime

wood-bell's peal and cry. in a

Or match

book the morning's prime. with words that tender sky

Wonderful verse of the gods,

Of one

import, of varied tone

;

They chant the bliss of their abodes To man imprisoned in his own.

;

MY GARDEN

231

Ever the words of the gods resound But the porches of man's ear Seldom

low

in this

Are unsealed,

round

life's

that he

may

hear.

Wandering voices in the air And murmurs in the wold Speak what I cannot declare, Yet cannot all withhold.

When The

the

shadow

fell

on the

lake,

whirlwind in ripples wrote

Air-bells of fortune that shine and break,

And omens

above thought.

But the meanings cleave to the lake. Cannot be carried in book or urn

thy ways now,

waves and hedges

These

the fates of

Of better men If

who

come

men

back.

later

still

they burn.

forecast,

than live to-day

can read them comes

at last

will spell in the sculpture,

Stay.'

THE CHARTIST'S COMPLAINT Day

hast thou

two

faces,

Making one place two places One, by humble farmer

Chill and wet, unlighted,

Useful only,

triste

mean.

and damp.

Serving for a laborer's lamp

Have

seen,

the same mists another side.

be the appanage of pride,

Gracing the rich man's wood and lake. His park where amber mornings break.

And

show

treacherously bright to

His planted

isle

where roses glow

Day and

sycophant to smug success

your mightiness ?

Will the sweet sky and ocean broad

accomplices to fraud

fine

Sun

curse thy cruel ray

Back, back to chaos, harlot

Day

——

;

THE TITMOUSE You

shall

When As

not be overbold

you

late I

deal with arctic cold,

found

lukewarm blood

Chilled wading in the snow-choked wood.

How Has

should I fight

foeman

million arms to one of

mine

fine :

East, west, for aid I looked in vain,

East, west, north, south, are his domain.

Miles

ofF,

three dangerous miles,

Must borrow

his

winds

come.

and away for

The

life

who

fleet

home

there

would

—

my fumbling feet, my hands are stones.

frost-king ties

Sings in

ears,

Curdles the blood to the marble bones.

Tugs

at the heart-strings,

And hems Well,

The

in life

numbs

the sense,

with narrowing fence.

in this broad

bed

lie

and

sleep,

punctual stars will vigU keep,

Embalmed by

purifying cold;

The winds shall sing their dead-march old. The snow is no ignoble shroud. The moon thy mourner, and the cloud.

;;

; !

THE TITMOUSE

234 Softly,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

but this

'T was coming

When

way

fast to

was pointing,

fate

such anointing.

piped a tiny voice hard by,

Gay and

polite, a cheerful cry,

Chic-chic-a-dee-dee !

saucy note

Out of sound heart and merry As if it said, Good day, good '

Fine afternoon, old passenger

Happy

meet you

Where January This

To As

sir

in these places,

few

brings

faces.'

poet, though he live apart,

Moved by Sped,

throat.

his hospitable heart,

when

passed his sylvan fort,

do the honors of his court. fits

a feathered lord of land

Flew near, with soft wing grazed my hand, Hopped on the bough, then, darting low. Prints his small impress on the snow,

Shows

feats

of his gymnastic play.

Head downward, Here was

this

Hurling defiance

clinging to the spray.

atom

This scrap of valor

just for play

Fronts the north-wind

if to

shame

I greeted loud

in full breath.

at vast death

in waistcoat gray,

my weak behavior my

little

savior,

;

THE TITMOUSE '

You

pet what dost here ? and what In these woods, thy small Labrador,

fire

burns in that

frolic, stout

Henceforth

Ashes and

Why To

chest

little

and self-possest

wear no

stripe but thine

hues outshine.

jet all

are not diamonds black and gray,

ape thy dare-devil array

And

for

wee San Salvador

this pinch,

What

235

I affirm, the spacious

North

Exists to draw thy virtue forth. I think

The

Is, that

And,

virtue goes with size

reason of

men

cowardice

all

are overgrown.

must come down

to be valiant,

the titmouse dimension.'

'Tis good

And

makes

will

intelligence.

began to catch the sense

Of my

bird's

song

Live out of doors

In the great woods, on I dine in the sun

;

prairie floors.

when he

sinks in the sea,

I too have a hole in a hollow tree

And

I like less

With Than With

stifling

when Summer

beams on these

beats

retreats,

noontide twilights which snow makes

tempest of the blinding

flakes.

For well the soul, if stout within. Can arm impregnably the skin

;

THE TITMOUSE

236

And polar frost my frame defied, Made of the air that blows outside.' With I

glad

homeward

When He

farewell,

;

here again thy pilgrim comes.

shall bring store

Doubt

my debt, my pet

remembrance of turn

of seeds and crumbs.

not, so long as earth has bread.

Thou first and foremost shalt be fed; The Providence that is most large Takes

hearts like thine in special charge,

Helps who for

And

their

own need

are strong,

the sky doats on cheerful song.

Henceforth

O'er

all

thy wiry chant

I prize

that

mass and minster vaunt

For men mis-hear thy

As 'twould

accost

call in Spring,

some

frivolous wing.

Crying out of the hazel copse, Phe-be !

And,

in winter, Chic-a-dee-dee !

I think old Caesar

must have heard

In northern Gaul

And, echoed

some

dauntless bird, frosty wold.

Borrowed thy battle-numbers

And And I,

I will

write our annals

bold.

new.

thank thee for a better clew,

who dreamed

not

when

came here

To find the antidote of fear. Now hear thee say in Roman Paan

Feni, vidi, vici.

key,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

THE HARP One

musician

His wisdom

sure.

will not fail,

has not tasted wine impure,

Nor bent to passion frail. Age cannot cloud his memory, Nor grief untune his voice. Ranging down the ruled scale From tone of joy to inward wail. Tempering the pitch of In his windy cave.

all

He all the fables knows, And in their causes tells, Knows Nature's rarest moods, Ever on her

The Muse

secret broods.

Oft courted

men

will not

coy.

come;

In palaces and market squares Entreated, she

But

minstrel

dumb knows and

tells

The counsel of the gods, Knows of Holy Book the spells, Knows the law of Night and Day, And the heart of girl and boy, The tragic and the gay.

! ;

THE HARP

238

And what

writ on Table

Round

Of Arthur and his peers What sea and land discoursing ;

say

In sidereal years.

renders

all

his lore

In numbers wild as dreams,

Modulating

What

all

extremes,

the children

Only Only

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

meadow saith who have faith

the spangled

to children children sing. to

Who When

youth will spring be spring.

the Bard thus magnified

did he sing

and where abide

Chief of song where poets feast wind-harp which thou seest

Is the

In the casement

side.

^olian harp.

How Gay

strangely wise thy strain for youth,

(Sweet

is art,

In the hall

gay for youth,

but sweeter truth,)

summer eve

Fate and Beauty skilled to weave.

From Rung

the eager opening strings

loud and bold the song.

Who

but loved the wind-harp's note

How

should not the poet doat

;

THE HARP On

mystic tongue,

its

With

239

itSi

primeval memory,

Reporting what old minstrels told

Of Merlin

locked the harp within,

Merlin paying the pain of

sin.

Pent in a dungeon made of

air,

—

And some attain his voice to hear. Words of pain and cries of fear. But pillowed

fits

on melody.

all

the griefs of bards to be.

And what if that all-echoing shell. Which thus the buried Past can tell. Should rive the Future, and reveal

What

his dread folds

It shares the secret

And

would

fain conceal

of the earth.

of the kinds that owe her

birth.

Speaks not of self that mystic tone.

But of the Overgods alone It

trembles to the cosmic breath,

heareth, so

—

saith

Obeying meek the primal Cause, It is the

And ,

tongue of mundane laws.

this, at least, I dare affirm,

Since genius too has bound and term.

There "is no bard in all the Not Homer's self, the poet

Wise

sire,

Milton's odes of pensive pleasure.

Shakspeare,

Nor

choir.

whom no mind

can measure,

Collins' verse of tender pain.

;

THE HARP

240

Nor '

Byron's clarion of disdain,

Scott, the delight of generous boys,

Or Wordsworth, Not one of

all

Pan's recqrdingjjaice',

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

can put in verse,

to this presence could rehearse

The sights and voices The boy knew on the

When

ravishing hills in spring.

pacing through the oaks he heard

Sharp queries of the sentry-bird.

The The

heavy grouse's sudden whir.

Saw

bonfires of the harlot

rattle

of the kingfisher flies

In the lowland, when day dies

Or marked, benighted and forlorn. The first far signal-fire of morn. These

Nature spoke.

syllables that

And

the thoughts that in

Can

adequately utter none

him woke.

Save to his ear the wind-harp lone.

Therein

The The

hear the Parcae reel

threads of

man

threads of

life

at their

So sweet and mournful

And

How

best can teach

Nature

humming

its

falls

the strain.

Delphian chord

to the soul

moored,

If once again that silent string.

erst

wheel,

and power and pain.

wont, would

thrill

and

ring.

THE HARP Not long ago

at eventide,

seemed, so listening, at

window saw

knew

fair

side

rose, and, to say sooth,

I looked forth I

241

on the

fields

of youth

boys bestriding steeds,

their

forms in fancy weeds.

Long, long concealed by sundering

Mates of

youth,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

yet not

Stronger and bolder far than

With

And

fates,

mates,

grace, with genius, well attired.

then as

now from

admired,

far

Followed with love

They knew not of. With passion cold and

joy, for

Renewed,

shy.

what recoveries

rare

I breathe Elysian air,

See youth's glad mates in earliest

Break not

bloom,â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

dream, obtrusive tomb

teach thou. Spring

Of life

the grand recoil

resurgent from the

Wherein was dropped

soil

the mortal spoil.

;

SEASHORE

-â&#x20AC;˘^/

HEARD

or seemed to hear^the chiding Sea

come Am I not always here, thy summer home ? Is not my voice thy music, morn and eve ?

why

Say, Pilgrim,

My My

touch thy antidote, ever building like

my bay thy my terraces

bath

little

warm

ever couch magnificent as mine

Lie on the

breath thy healthful climate in the heats,

Was Was

so late and slow to

rock-ledges, and there learn

hut suffices like a town.

make your

sculptured architecture vain.

Vain beside mine.

I drive

And Lo

and Nineveh and Thebes,

wedges home.

carve the coastwise mountain into caves. here

Rome

Karnak and Pyramid and Giant's Half

piled or prostrate

Older than

all

;

and

Stairs

newest slab

thy race.

Behold the Sea,

The Yet

opaline, the plentiful

beautiful as

and strong.

the rose in June,

Fresh as the trickling rainbow of July Sea

full

of food, the nourisher of kinds,

Purger of earth, and medicine of Creating a sweet climate by

men

;

breath,

;

SEASHORE

243

Washing out harms and griefs from memory, And, in my mathematic ebb and flow, Giving a hint of

that

Rich are the sea-gods

They They

which changes :

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; who

not.

gives gifts but they

pluck Force thence, and give

For every wave

to the wise.

wealth to Daedalus,

Wealth to the cunning artist who can work This matchless strength. Where shall he

find,

waves

load your Atlas shoulders cannot

I with

The

my hammer

lift ?

pounding evermore

rocky coast, smite Andes into dust.

Strewing

bed, and, in another age.

Rebuild a continent of better men.

Then I unbar the doors The exodus of nations to

I too

all

Men

paths lead out

I disperse

shores that front the hoary main.

have

arts

and sorceries

Illusion dwells forever with the wave. I know what spells are laid. Leave me With credulous and imaginative man

to deal

;

For, though he scoop

few rods

off he

deems

water in his palm, it

gems and

clouds.

Planting strange fruits and sunshine on the shore, I

make some

grope the sea for pearls, but more than pearls

distant

co^st alluring,

some lone

men, who must go

isle,

there, or die.

;

SONG OF NATURE Mine are the night and morning. The pits of air, the gulf of space. The sportive sun, the gibbous moon, The innumerable days. I hide in the solar glory, I

am dumb

I rest

In slumber

No No

in the pealing song,

on the pitch of the I

torrent,

strong.

numbers have counted tribes

house can

tallies,

fill,

I sit

by the shining Fount of Life

And

pour the deluge

And

ever by delicate powers

still

Gathering along the centuries

From

race on race the rarest flowers.

My wreath

shall

And many

a thousand

nothing miss.

summers

gardens ripened well,

And light from meliorating With firmer glory fell.

stars

;

SONG OF NATURE

245

I wrote the past in characters

Of rock The The And And And I

and

the scroll.

lire

building in the coral sea,

planting of the coal.

from

thefts

broken

and rings

satellites

stars I

drew.

out of spent and aged things

formed the world anew

What

time the gods kept carnival.

Tricked out

in star

And in cramp They swathed

elf

and flower.

and saurian forms

their too

much

power.

Time and Thought were my surveyors. They laid their courses well, They boiled the sea, and piled the layers

Of granite,

marl and

shell.

But he, the man-child

glorious,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Where tarries he the while ? The rainbow shines his harbinger, The sunset gleams his smile.

boreal lights leap upward,

Forthright

And still the The summit

planets roll.

man-child

of the whole.

not born,

;;

SONG OF NATURE

246

Must time and Will never Will never

And

my my

satellites

tide forever

run

winds go sleep in the west

have

rest

Too much of donning and doffing, Too slow the rainbow fades, I weary of my robe of snow, My leaves and my cascades ;

I tire

of globes and races.

Too long the game is played What without him is summer's pomp, Or winter's frozen shade ? I travail in pain for

My creatures

travail

him.

and wait

His couriers come by squadrons.

He comes Twice

not to the gate.

have moulded an image.

And thrice outstretched my hand. Made one of day and one of night And one of the salt sea-sand.

One And One

in a

Judaean manger.

one by

Avon

stream,

over against the mouths of Nile,

And one

in the

wheels which whirl the sun

Academe.

SONG OF NATURE I

moulded kings and

And But

saviors.

bards o'er kings to rule fell

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the starry influence short,

The cup was Yet whirl

And mix

never

full.

the glowing wheels once more. the bowl again

Seethe, Fate

;

the ancient elements,

Heat, cold, wet, dry, and peace, and pain.

Let war and trade and creeds and song Blend, ripen race on race.

The

sunburnt world a

Of all No

ray

oldest force

And

man

shall breed

the zones and countless days.

dimmed, no atom worn, is

good as new.

the fresh rose on yonder thorn

Gives back the bending heavens in dew.

247

;

TWO Thy summer

;

RIVERS

voice, Musketaquit,

Repeats the music of the rain

But sweeter

Through

rivers pulsing

flit

thee, as thou through

Thou in thy narrow banks art The stream I love unbounded Through Through

Plain,

pent goes

and firmament;

flood and sea light,

Concord

through

life, it

forward flows.

the inundation sweet,

I see

I hear the

Through Through

spending of the stream

years, through

men, through Nature

love and thought, through

Musketaquit, a goblin strong.

Of shard

and

makes jewels gay

flint

They lose their grief who hear his And where he winds is the day of So forth and brighter

Who No

drink

ages drop in

its

song, day.

my; stream,

shall not thirst again

darkness stains

And

fares

equal gleam.

like rain.

fleet,

power and dream.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

WALDEINSAMKEIT I

DO not count the hours

spend

In wandering by the sea;

The

forest

God

loyal friend,

useth me.

In plains that room for shadows make

Of skirting Bound

hills

lie,

by streams which give and take

Their colors from the sky

Or on the mountain-crest sublime. Or down the oaken glade,

what have

For

this the

I to

do with time

day was made.

Cities of mortals

woe-begone

Fantastic care derides.

But

in the serious landscape lone

Stern benefit abides.

Sheen

And

will tarnish,

merry

honey

only a

cloy,

mask of

But, sober on a fund of joy.

The woods

at heart are glad.

sad,

;

WALDEINSAMKEIT

2S0 There

the great Planter plants

Of fruitful And The

worlds the grain,

with a million spells enchants souls that

walk

on the seeds of

Still

The

in pain.

all

he made

rose of beauty burns

Through times

that

wear and forms

that fade.

Immortal youth returns.

The black ducks mounting from the The pigeon in the pines. The bittern's boom, a desert make Which no false art refines.

Down

lake.

yon watery nook,

Where bearded mists divide, The gray old gods whom Chaos knew. The sires of Nature, hide. Aloft, in secret veins of air.

Blows

the sweet breath of song,

O, few to scale Though they to

those uplands dare, all

belong

See thou bring not to

The

field or

stone

fancies found in books;

Leave authors' eyes, and fetch your own,

brave the landscape's looks.

; ;;

TERMINUS Oblivion here thy wisdom

Thy

is.

the sleep of cares

thrift,

For a proud

Crowns

251

idle ness

thy

all

mean

;

ike this afFairs.

TERMINUS It

time to be old,

take in

The god

Who

sail

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

of bounds,

sets to seas a shore.

Came to me in his fatal And said No more '

rounds.

farther shoot

Thy

broad ambitious branches, and thy root.

Fancy

departs

no more invent

Contract thy firmament j

compass of a

tent.

There

Make

thy option which of two

not enough for this and that,

Economize

Not

the failing river.

the less revere the Giver,

Leave the many and hol d the few^ TlmeijTwise accept the terms. Soften the

little

Still

fall

with wary foot

while

plan and smile.

—

;

TERMINUS

252

—

And,

fault

of novel germs,

Mature the unfallen Curse,

fruit.

thou wilt, thy

Bad husbands of

Who, when

—

sires.

their fires.

they gave thee breath,

Failed to bequeath

The The But

needful sinew stark as once.

Baresark marrow to thy bones, left

a legacy of ebbing veins.

Inconstant heat and nerveless reins,

Amid Amid

the Muses, left thee deaf and

the bird trims her to the gale,

dumb.

the gladiators, halt and numb.'

I trim

myself to the storm of time,

man the rudder, Obey the voice at I

'Lowly

reef the

sail,

eve obeyed at prime

faithful, banish fear.

Right onward drive unharmed

The And

port, well

worth the

every wave

cruise,

charmed,'

near.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

THE NUN'S ASPIRATION The

yesterday doth never smile,

The

day goes drudging through the while,

Yet, in the name of Godhead,

The morrow front, and can defy; Though I am weak, yet God, when

prayed.

Cannot withhold his conquering aid. Ah me it was my childhood's thought. !

make my web

should

life's fair

heart's content

a blot

picture of delight.

would find it right. But O, these waves and leaves, When happy stoic Nature grieves.

No human As

their

speech so beautiful

murmurs mine

God

this altar

I lay

lull.

vanity and guilt

Nor me

can

Hearing

Which

hath built

Hope

now

blasts

or Passion urge

the lofty dirge

of Northern mountains hymn.

Nature's funeral high and dim, Sable pageantry of clouds,

Mourning summer laid in shrouds. Many a day shall dawn and die.

Many

an angel wander by.

—

;

THE NUN'S ASPIRATION

254

And

passing, light

sunken turf

Moist perhaps by ocean

surf,

Forgotten amid splendid tombs,

Yet wreathed and On earth I dream

hid by

—

summer blooms.

I die to

Time, shake not thy bald head

;

me.

I challenge thee to hurry past

my turn to fly too fast. Think me not numbed or halt with age. Or cares that earth to earth engage. Or

for

Caught with

love's cord of twisted

beams,

mired by climate's gross extremes.

I tire

I pass

of shams, I rush to be

with yonder comet

free,

—

Pass with the comet into space

Which mocks thy aeons to embrace; ^ons which tardily unfold Realm beyond realm,

early

—

extent untold

morn, no evening

late,

Realms

self-upheld, disdaining Fate,

Whose

shining sons, too great for fame.

Never heard thy weary name

Nor

lives the tragic

How How

bard to say

drear the part I held in one,

lame the other limped away.

;

APRIL

The And The

April winds are magical thrill

our tuneful frames

garden walks are passional

To bachelors

and dames.

The hedge is gemmed with diamonds, The air with Cupids full, The cobweb clues of Rosamond Guide lovers

to the pool.

Each dimple in the water. Each leaf that shades the rock

Can cozen, pique and flatter. Can parley and provoke. Goodfellow, Puck and goblins.

Know Down And The The The The

more than any book. with your doleful problems,

court the sunny brook.

south-winds are quick-witted. schools are sad and slow.

masters quite omitted lore

care to

know.

;

MAIDEN SPEECH OF THE ^OLIAN HARP Soft and

hold me, friends

softlier

Thanks if your genial care Unbind and give me to the air. Keep your lips or finger-tips For

flute or spinet's

dancing chips

I await a tenderer touch,

more or not

I ask

Give me

Where

much

to the atmosphere,

the wind,

Lend me your

ears,

For gentle harp

Lift the sash, lay

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

brother,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; where?

within.

and

I begin.

to gentle hearts

The And

not to-day and not to-morrow

Can

drain

secret of the

its

world imparts

wealth of hope and sorrow

But day by day,

to loving ear

Unlocks new sense and

loftier cheer.

come to live with you, sweet friends, This home my minstrel-journeyings ends. I 've

Many and The latest For

can

subtle are

lays.

better than the

mend

And charm

first,

the happiest days

the anguish of the worst.

;

CUPIDO The

solid, solid universe

Is pervious to

Love

With bandaged

eyes he never errs.

Around, below, above. His blinding

light

flingeth white

God's and Satan's brood,

And reconciles By mystic wiles The evil and the

good.

THE PAST The The The The

debt

paid.

verdict said.

Furies

laid.

plague

stayed.

All fortunes made;

Turn

the key and bolt the door.

Sweet

death forevermore.

Nor haughty hope, nor swart chagrin. Nor murdering hate, can enter in.

;

THE LAST FAREWELL

258 All

Not

now

secure and fast

the gods can shake the Past

Flies-to the adamantine door

Bolted down forevermore. None can reenter there,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

No No

thief so politic,

Satan with a royal trick

by window, chink, or hole,

Steal in

bind or unbind, add what lacked,

Insert a leaf, or forge a

New-face or Alter or

finish

mend

name.

what

packed,

eternal Fact.

THE LAST FAREWELL LINES

WRITTEN

EDWARD

BLISS

BY THE AUTHOR's BROTHER, EMERSON, WHILST SAILING OUT

OF BOSTON HARBOR, BOUND FOR THE ISLAND OF

PORTO RICO, IN

1832

Farewell, ye lofty spires That cheered the holy light Farewell, domestic

That broke

Too Too Too

the

fires

gloom of night

soon those spires are fast

lost,

leave the bay,

soon by ocean tost

From

hearth and

home away,

Far away,

far

away.

;;

THE LAST FAREWELL Farewell the busy town,

The

wealthy and the wise,

Kind smile and honest frown

From

bright, familiar eyes.

now Our brig hastes on her way. Her unremembering proje

All these are fading

Is leaping o'er the sea,

Far away, Farewell,

Too

mother fond.

kind, too good to

me;

Nor pearl nor diamond Would pay my debt to But even thy

stay; flies.

her play.

Far away,

desert without

few and

far

away.

brothers true.

betters, yet

How

thee.

kiss denies

Upon my cheek to The winged vessel And billows round

Farewell,

away.

far

peers

you

evil years

But though aye one

in heart.

Together sad or gay.

Rude ocean doth

us part

separate to-day.

Far away,

far

away.

259

;

THE LAST FAREWELL

26o

Farewell, thou fairest one,

Unplighted yet to me,

Uncertain of thine I

gave

That untold I leave

own

heart to thee. early love

untold to-day.

lips in

move

whisper

Farewell to

Far away, Farewell

breathe again

New

dim

heart shall beat not

away.

far

England's shore;

when

pant for thee no more.

In yon green palmy

isle.

Beneath the tropic ray, I

murmur never

while

For thee and thine

I pray

Far away,

far

away.

;

MEMORIAM ÂŁ.

MOURN upon

But not

this battle-field,

for those

who

perished here.

Behold the river-bank

Whither

the angry farmers came,

In sloven dress and broken rank,

Nor

thought of fame.

Their deed of blood

mankind praise; Even the serene Reason It was well done. All

The

wise and simple have one glance

greet

yon

Which more

mark

Yet

it is

The

stern head-stone.

of pride than pity gave

the Briton's friendless grave. a stately

tomb

grand return

Of eve The The

says.

and morn,

year's fresh bloom, silver cloud.

Might grace the

dust that

most proud.

;

262

MEMORIAM

Yet not of these In

muse

this ancestral place.

But of a kindred face

That never joy or hope Ah, brother of the

What

For

this

bank's historic trees

born for noblest

life.

action's field, for victor's car.

Thou

brief but blazing star

hast thou to do with these

Haunting

Thou

shall here diffuse.

living

champion of the

right

these their penalty belonged

grudge not these their bed of death.

But thine

The

to thee,

who

never wronged

poorest that drew breath.

All inborn power that could

Consist with homage to the good

Flamed from

his martial eye

He who seemed a soldier born. He should have the helmet worn. All friends to fend,

Fronting foes of

foes defy,

God and man,

Frowning down the Battling for the

all

evil-doer.

weak and

poor.

His from youth the leader's look

Gave

And

the law which others took.

never poor beseeching glance

Shamed

that sculptured countenance.

;

IN There

MEMORIAM

no record

left

263

on earth,

Save in tablets of the heart,

Of the rich inherent worth. Of the grace that on him shone, Of eloquent lips, of joyful wit: He could not frame a word unfit, An act unworthy to be done Honor prompted every glance. Honor came and sat beside him, In lowly cot or painful road.

And

evermore the cruel god Onward " and the palm-crown showed.

Cried "

Born

for success he seemed.

With grace to win, with heart to hold. With shining gifts that took all eyes. With budding power in college-halls. As pledged in coming days to forge Weapons to guard the State, or scourge Tyrants despite

his

their guards or walls.

young promise Beauty smiled.

Drew his free homage unbeguiled. And prosperous Age held out his hand, And richly his large future planned. And troops of friends enjoyed the tide,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

AH,

all

was given, and only

health denied.

I see him with superior smile Hunted by Sorrow's grisly train

In lands remote,

in toil

and pain.

;

MEMORIAM

264

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

With angel patience labor on, With the high port he wore erewhile. When, foremost of the youthful band, The prizes in all lists he won Nor bate one jot of heart or hope. And,

least

all,

the loyal tie

Which holds to home 'neath every sky. The joy and pride the pilgrim feels In hearts which round the hearth at home Keep pulse for pulse with those who roam.

What generous beliefs console The brave whom Fate denies the If others reach

it, is

Heaven's high

Firm on

goal

content

will his will

bent.

his heart relied.

What lot soe'er betide. Work of his hand He nor repents nor grieves. Pleads for itself the fact.

As unrepenting Nature Her every act. Fell the bolt

The

leaves

on the branching oak;

rainbow of

his

hope was broke

craven cry, no secret tear,

told

no pang, he knew no

fear

;

IN Its

MEMORIAM

265

peace sublime his aspect kept.

His purpose woke,

And

his features slept

yet between the spasms of pain

His genius beamed with joy again. O'er thy rich dust the endless smile

Of Nature

in thy Spanish isle

Hints never

loss or cruel

break

And sacrifice for love's dear sake. Nor mourn the unalterable Days That Genius goes and Folly

stays.

What matters how, or from what The freed soul its Creator found

ground.

.''

memory embalms That orange-grove, that isle of palms, Alike thy

And Root

these loved banks,

whose oak-boughs bold

in the blood of heroes old.

Ill

ELEMENTS AND MOTTOES

EXPERIENCE The I

lords of

saw them

own

their

life,

guise,

Like and unlike. Portly and grim,

Use and

the lords of life,—

pass

—

Surprise,

Surface and

Dream,

Succession swift and spectral

Temperament without

And

Wrong,

a tongue.

game Omnipresent without name Some to see, some to be guessed, the inventor of the

;

They marched from man,

Little

Among Walked

Him

least

—

east to west

all.

the legs of his guardians

tall.

about with puzzled look.

by the hand dear Nature took.

Dearest Nature, strong and kind.

Whispered,

To-morrow

The

Darling, never mind

they will wear another face.

founder thou

;

these are thy race

* !

;

; ;

COMPENSATION The

wings of

Time

and white.

are black

Pied with morning and with night.

Mountain tall and ocean deep Trembling balance duly keep. In changing

moon and

tidal

wave

Glows the feud of Want and Have. Gauge of more and less through space, Electric star or pencil plays,

The

lonely Earth amid the balls

That hurry through

makeweight

the eternal halls,

flying to the void.

Supplemental asteroid,

compensatory spark.

Shoots across the neutral Dark.

Man

the elm, and

Wealth the vine

Stanch and strong the tendrils twine

Though the frail ringlets thee deceive. None from its stock that vine can reave. Fear not, then, thou child infirm,

There

worm

no god' dare wrong a

Laurel crowns cleave to deserts.

And power

him who power

Hast not thy share

exerts.

winged

rushes thee to meet

feet,

;

POLITICS And

all

that

271

Nature made thy own.

Floating in air or pent in stone.

Will

rive the hills

And,

like thy

and swim the

shadow, follow thee.

POLITICS Gold

and iron are good

buy iron and gold

All earth's fleece and food

For their like are sold. Boded Merlin wise, Proved Napoleon great,

Nor

kind nor coinage buys

Aught above

its rate.

Fear, Craft and Avarice

Cannot

rear a State.

Out of

dust to build

What

more than

Walls Amphion Phoebus

When With Find

dust,

piled

stablish must.

the

sea,

Muses nine

the Virtues meet. to their design

Atlantic seat.

green orchard boughs

Fended from the

heat,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

HEROISM

272

Where

the statesman ploughs

Furrow

When When

for the wheat,

Church

the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

social worth.

the state-house

the hearth,

Then the perfect State is come. The republican at home.

HEROISM Ruby wine

drunk by knaves,

Sugar spends to fatten slaves.

Rose and

vine-leaf deck buffoons

;

Thunder-clouds are Jove's festoons,

Drooping

oft in

wreaths of dread.

Lightning-knotted round his head;

The

hero

Daily his

not fed on sweets.

own

heart he eats

Chambers of the

And

great are jails.

head-winds right for royal

sails.

;

CHARACTER The

sun

set,

but set not his hope

was earlier up Fixed on the enormous galaxy. Deeper and older seemed his eye Stars rose

;

his faith

And matched his sufferance sublime The taciturnity of time. He spoke, and words more soft than Brought the Age of Gold again His action

hid

all

won

rain

such reverence sweet

measure of the

feat.

CULTURE Can The

rules or tutors educate

semigod

whom we

await

must be musical,

Tremulous, impressional, '

Alive to gentle influence

Of landscape And

and of sky,

tender to the spirit-touch

Of man's

or maiden's eye

But, to his native centre

fast,

Shall into Future fuse the Past,

And

the worfd's flowing fates in his

own mould recast.

;

FRIENDSHIP

RUDDY drop

The The The

of manly blood

surging sea outweighs,

world uncertain comes and goes

;

lover rooted stays.

I fancied

he was

fled,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

And, after many a year. Glowed unexhausted kindliness, Like daily sunrise there.

careful heart

friend,

Through Through

was

my bosom

free again,

said.

thee alone the sky

thee the rose

arched,

red

All things through thee take nobler form,

And The

look beyond the earth. mill-round of our fate appears

A sun-path in thy worth. Me too thy nobleness has To

master

The

taught

despair

fountains of

my hidden

Are through thy friendship

life

fair.

;

SPIRITUAL LAWS

The

living

House

Heaven thy prayers

respect.

once and architect.

Quarrying man's rejected hours. Builds therewith eternal towers Sole and self-commanded works,

Fears not undermining days.

Grows by

decays,

And, by the famous might In reaction and

Makes

that lurks

recoil.

flame to freeze and ice to boil;

Forging, through swart arms of Offence,

The

silver seat

of Innocence.

BEAUTY Was

never form and never face

So sweet to Seyd

Which

as only grace

did not slumber like a stone.

But hovered gleaming and was gone. Beauty chased he everywhere, In flame, in storm, in clouds of

smote the lake to feed

air.

his eye

;

MANNERS

276

With

the beryl

beam of

the broken

wave

He The moment's

music which they gave.

Oft pealed

him

flung in pebbles well to hear

for

From nodding

a lofty tone

pole and belting zone.

heard a voice none else could hear

From centred and from errant sphere. The quaking earth did quake in rhyme, Seas ebbed and flowed in epic chime.

In dens of passion, and

pits

of woe.

saw strong Eros struggling through.

sun the dark and solve the curse.

And beam While

to the

bounds of the universe.

thus to love he gave his days

In loyal worship, scorning praise.

How

spread their lures for

him

in vain

Thieving Ambition and paltering Gain

thought

die for

happier to be dead.

Beauty, than live for bread.

MANNERS Grace, Beauty and Caprice Build this golden portal

women, chosen men, Dazzle every mortal. Their sweet and lofty countenance Graceful

;

;; ; ;

ART

277

His enchanted food

need not go to them, their forms

Eeset his solitude.

He looketh

seldom in

their face.

His eyes explore the ground,

The

green grass

Whereon Little

and

So dances

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

a looking-glass

their traits are found. less

he says to them.

his heart in his breast

Their tranquil mien bereaveth him

Of wit,

of words, of

rest.

Too weak to win, too fond to shun The tyrants of his doom. The much deceived Endymion Slips

behind a tomb.

ART Give to barrows, trays and pans Grace and glimmer of romance Bring the moonlight into noon of stone

Hid

the city's paved street

gleaming

piles

Plant gardens lined with

lilacs

sweet

Let spouting fountains cool the

air.

Singing in the sun-baked square

Let

;

statue, picture, park

and

hall,

ART

278

Ballad, flag and festival.

The past restore, the day adorn. And make to-morrow a new morn. So

shall the

drudge

Spy behind the

dusty frock

city clock

Retinues of airy kings, Skirts

of angels, starry wings.

His fathers shining

in bright fables.

His children fed

heavenly tables.

'T is the privilege of Art Thus to play its cheerful

Man

on earth

And bend

part,

to acclimate

the exile to his fate.

And, moulded of one element

With the days and firmament. Teach him on these as stairs to climb. And live on even terms with Time; Whilst upper

Of human

life

the slender

rill

sense doth overfill.

;

UNITY Space

ample, east and west.

But two cannot go abreast, Cannot travel in it two Yonder masterful cuckoo Crowds every egg out of the

Quick

or dead, except

spell is laid

its

nest.

own

on sod and stone.

Night and Day were tampered with.

Every quality and

pith

Surcharged and sultry with a power

That works

its

will

on age and hour.

WORSHIP This

he,

who,

felled

foes,

Sprung harmless up, refreshed by blows

He to captivity was sold. But him no prison-bars would hold Though they sealed him in a rock. Mountain chains he can unlock

Thrown to lions for their meat. The crouching lion kissed his feet 5

;

PRUDENCE

28o

Bound This

no flames appalled, him an honoring vault.

to the stake,

But arched he

o'er

men

miscall Fate,

Threading dark ways, arriving But ever coming

in time to

late,

crown

The truth, and hurl wrong-doers down. He is the oldest, and best known. More near than aught thou call'st thy own. Yet, greeted in another's eyes. Disconcerts with glad surprise.

This

Jove, who, deaf to prayers.

Floods with blessings unawares.

Draw,

thou canst, the mystic line

Severing rightly his from thine.

Which

human, which

divine.

PRUDENCE Theme

no poet gladly sung.

Fair to old and foul to young

Scorn not thou the love of parts,

And

the articles of arts.

Grandeur of the

Thanks

perfect sphere

the atoms that cohere.

;

NATURE

SUBTLE chain of countless rings

The The And

next unto the farthest brings eye reads omens where speaks

all

goes.

languages the rose;

And, striving to be man, the worm Mounts through all the spires of form.

The

rounded world

Nine times

Though

The

And

its

cannot impart

laboring heart.

thine with Nature's throbbing breast,

all is

clear

Spirit that lurks

Beckons

from

east to west.

each form within

to spirit of its kin

Self-kindled every

And

to see,

folded in mystery

baffled seers

secret of

Throb

is fair

;

atom glows

hints the future

which

owes.

}

THE INFORMING

There

SPIRIT

no great and no small

the Soul that

And where And it cometh it

maketh

cometh,

all

things are

everywhere.

am owner

of the sphere.

Of the seven stars and the solar year, Of Caesar's hand, and Plato's brain. Of Lord Christ's heart, and Shakspeare's

CIRCLES Nature And her

centres into balls.

proud ephemerals.

Fast to surface and outside.

Scan the

Knew

A new

profile

of the sphere

;

they what that signified, genesis were here.

strain.

INTELLECT Go, speed

the stars of

Thought

to their shining goals

The sower The wheat

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

scatters broad his seed ;

thou strew' st be souls.

GIFTS Gifts of one who loved me,

'T was

When Time

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

came j love me.

high time they

he ceased to

they stopped for shame.

PROMISE In countless upward-striving waves

The moon-drawn

tide-wave strives;

In thousand far-transplanted

The

parent fruit survives

;

So, in the new-born millions,

The

perfect

Adam

lives.

grafts

CARITAS

284

Not

less are

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; POWER

summer mornings

dear

every child they wake,

And

each with novel

Fills for his

life his

sphere

proper sake.

CARITAS In the suburb, in the town,

the railway, in the square,

Came

beam of goodness down

Doubling daylight everywhere Peace

now

Beauty for

each for malice takes. his sinful

weeds.

For the angel Hope aye makes

Him

an angel

whom

she leads.

POWER His tongue was framed

And

his

to music,

hand was armed with

skill

His face was the mould of beauty.

And

;

his heart the

throne of will.

WEALTH Who

shall tell

Far away

Over

what did

in time,

befall,

when

once.

the lifeless ball.

Hung idle What god

stars

and suns

the element obeyed

Wings of what wind

the lichen bore,

Wafting the puny seeds of power. Which, lodged in rock, the rock abrade

And

well the primal pioneer

Knew

the strong task to

assigned.

Patient through Heaven's enormous year

build in matter

home

for mind.

From air the creeping centuries drew The matted thicket low and wide. This must the leaves of ages strew

The

granite slab to clothe and hide,

Ere wheat can wave

What

its

golden pride.

smiths, and in what furnace, rolled

(In dizzy aeons dim and mute

The

reeling brain can

Copper and

What

oldest star the

Of races The

iron, lead

ill

compute)

and gold

fame can save

perishing to pave

planet with a floor of lime

: ;;

WEALTH

a86

pyramid and mole

Dust

Who

saw what

Under

their

ferns

and palms were pressed

the tumbling mountain's breast.

In the safe herbal of the coal

But when the quarried means were All

waste and worthless,

piled,

till

Arrives the wise selecting will,

And, out of slime and chaos. Wit

Draws

the threads of fair and

fit.

Then temples rose, and towns, and The shop of toil, the hall of arts Then flew the sail across the seas

marts,

;

feed the

North from

tropic trees

The storm-wind wove, the torrent span, Where they were bid, the rivers ran

New

slaves fulfilled the poet's

dream.

Galvanic wire, strong-shouldered steam.

Then docks were And ingots added

built,

and crops were stored.

to the hoard.

But though light-headed man

forget.

Remembering Matter pays her debt Still,

through her motes and masses, draw

Electric thrills and ties of law.

Which

bind the strengths of Nature wild

the conscience of a child.

; ;

ILLUSIONS Flow, flow

the waves hated.

Accursed, adored,

The waves

No r

of mutation

anchorage

Sleep

is.

not, death

not

_ Who seem to die live. House you were born in. Friends of your spring-time,

Old man and young maid. Day's

They

toil

are

and all

its

guerdon.

vanishing.

Fleeing to fables.

Cannot be moored. See the stars through them.

Through

Know The Are

the stars yonder,

stars everlasting.

fugitive also.

And The And

emulate, vaulted.

lambent heat lightning fire-fly's flight.

When

treacherous marbles.

thou dost return

the wave's circulation.

ILLUSIONS

288

Behold the shimmer,

The

wild dissipation.

And, out of endeavor

change and to flow,

The gas become solid. And phantoms and nothings Return to be things.

And Is

endless imbroglio

law and the world,

Then That

first

shalt thou

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

know.

in the wild turmoil,

Horsed on the Proteus,

Thou ridest to power. And to endurance.

QUATRAINS AND TRANSLATIONS

;

QUATRAINS H.

High was

her heart, and yet was well inclined.

Her manners made of bounty Far

capitals

well refined

and marble courts, her eye

;

still

seemed to

see,

Minstrels and kings and high-born dames, and of the best that be.

HUSH

Every thought Every nook

public.

wide

;

Thy

gossips spread each whisper.

And

the gods from side to side.

ORATOR

He who

)

has no hands

Perforce must use his tongue

Foxes are so cunning Because they are not strong.

ARTIST

Quit

the hut, frequent the palace,

Reck not what For

still,

the people say

where'er the trees grow biggest.

Huntsmen

find the easiest

way.

QUATRAINS

292

POET

Ever

the Yoei from the land

Steers his bark and trims his sail

Right out to sea

New

his courses stand,

worlds to find in pinnace

frail.

POET

clothe the fiery thought

In simple words succeeds.

For

still

the craft of genius

To mask

a king in weeds.

BOTANIST

thou to thy learned task,

I stay

with the flowers of Spring

thou of the Ages ask

What me

the

Hours

will bring.

GARDENER

True

Brahmin,

Expound Or, hid

in the

morning meadows wet.

the Vedas of the violet.

in vines,

peeping through

many

a loop.

See the plum redden, and the beurre stoop.

FORESTER

took the color of his vest

From

rabbit's coat or grouse's breast;

For, as the wood-kinds lurk and hide.

So walks the woodman, unespied.

;

QUATRAINS

293

NORTHMAN

The It

gale that

helped

The And

storm

wrecked you on the sand,

rowers to row

my best me where

drives

galley

hand

I go.

FROM ALCUIN

The

sea

the road of the bold.

Frontier of the wheat-sown plains.

The And

pit

wherein the streams are rolled

fountain of the rains.

EXCELSIOR

Over his And over And over

head were the maple buds. the tree the

was the moon,

moon were

That drop from

the angels' shoon.

With

the starry studs

beams December planets

dart

His cold eye truth and conduct scanned, July was

October

in his

sunny heart,

in his liberal hand.

QUATRAINS

294

BORROWING FROM THE FRENCH

Some of your

And

hurts

you have cured,

the sharpest you

still

have survived,

But what torments of grief you endured

From

evils

which never arrived

NATURE

Boon Nature first

And

yields each day a brag

which we now

behold, us on to slight the new, as

trains

if it

were

the old

But

blest

who, playing deep, yet haply asks

he,

not why.

Too

busied with the crowded hour to fear to live or die.

FATE

Her

planted eye to-day controls.

Is in the

And That

morrow most

home.

sternly calls to being souls

curse her

when they come.

horoscope

Ere

he was born, the stars of fate

Plotted to

When The

make him

from the

rich

womb

and great

the babe

gate of gifts behind

him

was loosed,

closed.

— :

QUATRAINS »

Cast

295

POWER

the bantling on the rocks,

Suckle him with the she-wolf's

teat,

Wintered with the hawk and fox. Power and speed be hands and feet. CLIMACTERIC I

Nor

not wiser for skilful

Life

loiters at the

could

age.

grief;

book's

turn the

first

page,

leaf.

HERI, CRAS, HODIE

Shines the

To-day

last age, the

next with hope

slinks poorly ofF

Future or Past no richer secret

friendless Present

seen.

unmarked between folds,

than thy bosom holds.

MEMORY NiGHT-DREAMS trace on Memory's wall Shadows of the thoughts of day.

And The

thy fortunes, as they

fall.

bias of the will betray.

LOVE

Love on his errand bound to go Can swim the flood and wade through snow. Where way is none, 't will creep and wind And eat through Alps its home to find.

—

;

QUATRAINS

296

SACRIFICE

Though

love repine, and reason chafe,

There came '

without reply,

a voice

man's perdition to be

When

he ought to

for the truth

—

safe, die,*

PERICLES

Well

and

Be thou

w^isely said the

faithful, but not

Greek, fond

the altar's foot thy fellow seek,

The

Furies wait beyond.

CASELLA

Test

of the poet

For Eros

Never was

Who

knowledge of love.

older than Saturn or Jove poet, of late or of yore.

was not tremulous with

love-lore.

SHAKSPEARE I SEE all

human

wits

Are measured but

a few;

Unmeasured still my Shakspeare Lone as the blessed Jew.

sits.

HAFIZ

Her

passions the shy violet

From Hafiz never

hides

;

Love-longings of the raptured bird

The

bird to

him

confides.

;

QUATRAINS

297

NATURE IN LEASTS

sings the pine-tree in the wind.

So sings

Her Shed

in the

wind

a sprig of the pine

strength and soul has laughing France

of wine.

in each drop

AAAKPYN NEMONTAI AKINA '

A NEW

I give

commandment,'

darling son.

said the smiling

Thou

Muse,

shalt not preach

Luther, Fox, Behmen, Swedenborg, grew pale.

And, on

the instant, rosier clouds upbore

Haiiz and Shakspeare with

their shining choirs.

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

TRANSLATIONS SONNET OF MICHEL ANGELO BUONAROTTI

Never

A In

dream unfold

did sculptor's

form which marble doth not hold its

Only

white block the

Which

;

yet

therein shall find

hand secure and bold

still

obeys the mind.

So hide in thee, thou heavenly dame,

The

ill

I alas

shun, the good

claim

not well alive,

Miss the aim whereto

I strive.

Not

love, nor beauty's pride.

Nor

Fortune, nor thy coldness, can I chide,

If,

whilst within thy heart abide

Both death and Fails of the

life,

pity,

unequal

skill

but draws the death and

THE exile FROM THE PERSIAN OF KERMANl

In Farsistan the

violet spreads

Its leaves to the rival

I ask

And

how

sky;

far is the Tigris flood.

the vine that grows thereby

ill.

;

; ;

TRANSLATIONS

299

Except the amber morning wind.

Not one

salutes

There

no lover

;

Bagdat

offer the exile cheer.

know

here

in all

that thou,

morning wind

O'er Kernan's meadow blowest,

And

thou, heart-warming nightingale father's orchard

knowest.

The merchant hath stuffs of price. And gems from the sea-washed strand. And princes offer me grace

stay in the Syrian land

But what

And And

goldyÂťr, but for

dark, without love,

gifts ?

the day

that I see in Bagdat

all

Is the Tigris to float

away.

FROM HAFIZ I

SAID to heaven that glowed above,

hide

Hide

yon

all

sun-filled zone.

the stars you boast

For, in the world of love

And The

estimation true.

heaped-up harvest of the

moon

Is worth one barley-corn at most.

The

Pleiads' sheaf but two.

;

TRANSLATIONS

300

my darling should depart, And search the skies for prouder God forbid my angry heart If

friends,

In other love should seek amends.

When

the blue horizon's hoop

Instant to

And

pinches here,

little

grave

stoop.

go find thee in the sphere.

EPITAPH

Bethink, poor

Mad

Destiny

For a warm She

say,

bitter

this tender stripling

breast of

maiden to

kind of jest played

through patience, chalk

Becomes

a ruby stone

Ah, yes

but by the true heart's blood

The

chalk

crimson grown.

FRIENDSHIP

Thou Know

foolish Hafiz

the worth of

Oman's

Say, do churls pearls

Give the gem which dims the moon

the noblest, or to none.

;

his breast,

of marble on his head.

laid a slab

They

what

heart,

;

TRANSLATIONS Dearest, where thy shadow Beauty sits and Music calls ;

Where

301 falls.

thy form and favor come,

All good creatures have their home.

prince or bride no diamond stone Half so gracious ever shone.

the light of enterprise

Beaming from

young man's

eyes.

FROM OMAR KHAYYAM

Each

spot where tulips prank their state

Has drunk

The

violets

the life-blood of the great

yon

field

which

stain

Are moles of beauties Time hath

Unbar

the door, since thou the

Show me I put

slain.

Opener

art.

the forward way, since thou art guide, faith in pilot or in chart.

Since they are transient, and thou dost abide.

;

TRANSLATIONS

302

FROM ALI BEN ABU TALEB

He who

has a thousand friends has not a friend to

spare,

And

who

has one

enemy

will

meet him every-

where.

two days

The

On Nor

steads not to run from thy grave.

appointed, and the unappointed day the

first,

thee,

neither

;

balm nor physician can save,

on the second, the Universe

slay.

FROM IBN JEMIN

Two

things thou shalt not long for, if thou love a

mind serene

woman

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

to thy wife,

though she were a crowned

queen

And

the second, borrowed

money,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; though

the smil-

ing lender say

That he

will not

Day.

demand

the debt until the

Judgment

;

TRANSLATIONS

303

THE FLUTE FROM HILALI

Hark

what,

now loud, now

low, the pining

flute

com-

plains,

Without tongue, yellow-cheeked,

full

of winds that

wail and sigh Saying, Sweetheart If I

;

the old mystery remains,

thou, thou ; or thou art I

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

TO THE SHAH FROM HAFIZ

Thy

foes to hunt, thy enviers to strike

down,

Poises Arcturus aloft morning and evening his spear.

TO THE SHAH FROM ENWERI

Not But

in their houses stand the stars,

o'er the pinnacles of thine

TO THE SHAH FROM ENWERI

From thy worth and weight And the equipoise of heaven

the stars gravitate, is

thy house's equipoise.

;

TRANSLATIONS

304

SONG OF SEYD NIMETOLLAH OF KUHISTAN [Among in

the religious customs of the dervishes

which the dervish

spinning on his

Sheikh

own

imitates the

axis, whilst at

an astronomical dance,

movements of the heavenly he

in the centre, representing the sunj and, as

spins,

Song of Seyd Nimetollah of Kuhistan.]

Spin the

ball

burn,

I reel, I

Nor head from foot can I discern, Nor my heart from love of mine. Nor the wine-cup from the wine. All

doing,

Reaches not to Lost

Living

From

my leaving, my perceiving

all

only that

seeker of the stone. ;

the shore of souls arrived.

But what

To me who is

And my As

I love.

gem of Solomon

In the sea of sense

Love

;

in whirling spheres I rove.

And know

bodies, by-

the same time he revolves round the

land, or

dived

what

;

wave,

only jewels crave

the air-fed

fire

intense,

heart the frankincense

the rich aloes flames, I glow.

Yet the censer cannot know. I 'm all-knowing, yet unknowing Stand not, pause not, in

going.

sings the

TRANSLATIONS Ask

recite the

Well

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

feet.

God's love blazes higher,

difference expire.

are

Moslems

All are Love's, and I

;

meaning sweet,

book beneath

the

all

What

Alcoran

I love the

I tread the

Till

305

not me, as Muftis can,

embrace the true

what

all

are Giaours

are ours.

believers.

But I reck not of deceivers. Firm to Heaven my bosom clings, Heedless of inferior things

Down

on earth

What men

;

there, underfoot.

chatter

know

I not.

APPENDIX

THE POET

Right upward on the road of fame With sounding steps the poet came; Born and nourished in miracles, His feet were shod with golden bells. Or where he stepped the soil did peal

the dust were glass and steel.

The gallant child where'er he came Threw to each fact a tuneful name. The things whereon he cast his eyes Could not the nations rebaptize,

Nor Time's snows hide the names Nor last posterity forget. Yet every In latent

scroll

he set.

whereon he wrote

fire his secret

thought.

Fell unregarded to the ground,

Unseen by such

The The

as stood around.

pious wind took

away.

reverent darkness hid the lay.

Methought

water-haunting birds

Divers or dippers were his words.

And At

idle

the

clowns beside the mere

new

vision gape

and

jeer.

;

THE POET

310

But when the noisy scorn was

Emerge

past,

the winged words in haste.

New-bathed, new-trimmed, on healthy wing. Right to the heaven they steer and sing.

Brother of the world, his song

Sounded

like a

tempest strong

Which tore from oaks their branches And stars from the ecliptic road. Times wore he

broad,

as his clothing-weeds.

He sowed the sun and moon for seeds. As melts the iceberg in the seas. As clouds give rain to the eastern breeze, As snow-banks thaw in April's beam. The

solid

kingdoms

like a

dream

Resist in vain his motive strain,

They

totter

now and

For the Muse gave

float

amain.

special charge

His learning should be deep and

And The His

large,

his training should not scant

deepest lore of wealth or want flesh should feel, his eyes

should read

Every maxim of dreadful Need In

its

Life's

fulness he should taste

honeycomb, but not too

fast

f^Ful l fed, but not intoxica ted ;^

should be loved

;

he should be hated

blooming child to children dear.

His heart should palpitate with

fear.

;

THE POET And

well he loved to quit his

And, Calmuck,

read

But oh,

new

in his

311

home

wagon roam

landscapes and old skies

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

to see his solar eyes

Like meteors which chose

And

rived the dark like a

Not

lazy grazing on

all

Each chimney-pot and Farm-gear and

their way new day

they saw. cottage door.

village picket-fence,

But, feeding on magnificence.

They bounded to the horizon's edge And searched with the sun' s privilege. Landward they reached

the mountains old

Where pastoral tribes their flocks infold. Saw rivers run seaward by cities high And the seas wash the low-hung sky; Saw the endless rack of the firmament And the sailing moon where the cloud was And through man and woman and sea and Saw the dance of Nature forward and far, Through worlds and

Saw

With

the breath of the woods.

shaken pine, reach of the old seashore

dialogue divine

star

races and terms and times

musical order and pairing rhymes.

The gods talk in They talk in the And fill the long

rent.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

THE POET

312

And the poet who overhears Some random word they say Is the fated man of men

Whom

the ages must obey

One who

having nectar drank

Into blissful orgies sank

He He He

takes

no mark of night or day,

cannot go, he cannot stay.

would, yet would not, counsel keep)

But, like a walker in his sleep

With

staring eye that seeth none.

Ridiculously up and

Seeks

how

may

down

fitly tell

The

heart-o'erlading miracle.

Not

yet, not yet.

Impatient friend,

little

while attend

Not

yet I sing

hand upon the

but

;

must wait.

silent string.

Fully until the end. I see the

coming

light,

I see the scattered

Aloft, beneath,

The

stars'

These

Not

own

gleams. left

ether

and right

beams

are but seeds of days.

yet a steadfast morn,

An intermittent An embryo god

blaze.

unborn.

;

THE POET How The

all

313

things sparkle.

dust

alive,

the birth they arrive

I snufF the breath of

I see the pale lustres

condense to a

The The And

fading colors

morning

afar, star

fix,

vanishing are seen. the world that shall be

Twins the world that I know the appointed

I greet

Never

has been.

hour,

office well.

faster,

Revolves the

never slower fatal

wheel

The Fairest enchants me, The Mighty commands me. Saying,

Stand

thy place

and eastward turn thy face

As mountains for the morning Coming early, coming late.

wait,

So thou attend the enriching Fate Which none can stay, and none accelerate.' I

Fill

neither faint nor weary,

thy will,

faultless heart

Here from youth

Count

flight

to age I tarry,

of bird or

dart.

heart at the heart of things

Heeds no longer

lapse of time.

Rushing ages moult

their wings,

Bathing in thy day sublime.

THE POET

314

The

sun

set,

but set not his hope

Stars rose, his faith

was

earlier

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Fixed on the enormous galaxy,

Deeper and older seemed

his eye.

And matched his sufferance The taciturnity of Time.

sublime

Beside his hut and shading oak.

Thus I

to himself the poet spoke,

have supped to-night with gods,

I will not go

under a wooden roof:

walked among the

hills

In the love which Nature

fills.

The great stars did not shine aloof, They hurried down from their deep abodes And hemmed me in their glittering troop. '

Divine Inviters

The courtesy From ancient

finer fate

fortune harsh and hard.

With aim I

ages for the bard.

modulate

With

I accept

ye have shown and kept

yours

watch your course.

Who By

O O

never break your lawful dance

error or intemperance. birds of ether without

wings

heavenly ships without a

sail

O O

fire

315

Sail swiftly

who never

fail

through your amber vault,

animated law, a presence to

exalt.'

Ah, happy if a sun or star Could chain the wheel of Fortune's

And

car,

give to hold an even state,

Neither dejected nor

That haply man

The

;

THE POET of fire O best of things

mariners

;

elate,

upraised might keep

height of Fancy's far-eyed steep.

In vain

the stars are glowing wheels,

Giddy with motion Nature reels, Sun, moon, man, undulate and stream,

The mountains Change ;

flow, the solids seem.

acts, reacts

;

back, forward hurled,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

And pause were palsy to the world. The morn is come the starry crowds :

Are

hid behind the thrice-piled clouds

The new

day lowers, and equal odds

Have changed not Discrowned and

The

'Mid many

sleeps a short day's stealth,

ails

cripple of

And

of gods

timid, thoughtless, worn,

child of genius sits forlorn

Between two

less the guest

a brittle health,

God, half

true, half formed.

by great sparks Promethean warmed,

Constrained by impotence to adjourn

infinite

time his eager turn.

——

THE POET

3i6 His

lot

of action

the urn.

breath therein, no passage out,

false

usage pinned about

Cast wishful glances at the

stars

And wishful saw the Ocean stream •

Merge me

—

in the brute universe.

to a diviner

lift

dream

Beside him sat enduring love.

Upon him noble eyes did rest, Which, for the Genius that there

strove.

The follies bore that it invest. They spoke not, for their earnest

sense

Outran the

craft

He whom God

To whom Saluted

of eloquence.

had thus preferred,

sweet angels ministered.

him each morn

as brother.

And

bragged his virtues to each other,

Alas

And

they so pure

how were

they so beguiled.

facile, reckless,

He,

foolish child,

wandering

Eager for good, not hating

Thanked Nature

his tense

will.

ill.

for each stroke she dealt;

chords

all

strokes

were

felt,

The good, the bad with equal zeal. He asked, he only asked, to feel. Timid,

self-pleasing, sensitive.

With Gods,

with fools, content to live;

;

THE POET Bended

to fops

who

317

bent to him;

Surface with surfaces did swim.

Sorrow, sorrow

Is this dear Nature's

the angels cried,

manly

pride

Call hither thy mortal enemy.

Make him glad thy Yon waterflag, yon

fall

to see

sighing osier,

drop can shake, a breath can fan

Maidens laugh and weep Is the pudency of man.'

Composure

;

Again by night the poet went

From

the ligbtedjjalls

Beneath the darkling firmament

the seashore, to the old seawalls.

Out shone

The ' You

your dominion.

yet, dear stars, I

Only by needs and

know

ye shine

loves of mine

Light-loving, light-asking

life in

Feeds those eternal lamps

I see.

And I,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

have no lapse ; so have ye glowed

But once

And

a star beneath the cloud.

constellation glittered soon,

I to

whom

your

light has

spoken,

pining to be one of you, fall,

scorn

faith is

broken.

me from

your deeps of blue.

THE POET

3t8

perchance, ye orbs of Fate,

Your ne'er averted glance Beams with a will compassionate

sons of time and chance,

Then

power

clothe these hands with

In just proportion,

Nor plant immense designs Where equal means are none.' CHORUS OF SPIRITS Means, dear

brother, ask

Soul's desire

Pure content

Thine own Gentler

far

means enow,

them not j

angel's lot,

theatre art thou.

than

falls

In the woodwalks

the

still

snow

and low

Fell the lesson on his heart

And woke

the fear lest angels part.

POET I see I

your forms with deep content,

know But

that ye are excellent.

will

ye stay

I hear the rustle of wings.

meditate what to say

Ere ye go to quit

for ever

and aye.

; ;

THE POET

319

SPIRITS

Brother,

no phantom band

are

Brother, accept this

Aches

With See,

fatal

;

hand.

thine unbelieving heart

the fear that

all

we must

part

are rooted here

By one thought to one same sphere From thyself thou canst not flee, From thyself no more can we.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

POET Suns and

stars their courses

But not angels of the deep

Day and

keep.

night their turn observe,

But the day of day may swerve. Is there warrant that the waves

Of thought Will heap In

in their mysterious caves

their highest tide,

therewith beatified

Unsure the ebb and flood of thought. the Spirit not. The moon comes back,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

SPIRITS

Brother, sweeter

Than

all

are

Draw

the grace

its

the

Law

Love ever saw By it, we

suppliants.

the breath of Eternity

;

;;

;

THE POET

320 Serve thou

not for daily bread,

Serve

for pain

Love

it,

though

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

and fear and need. it

hide

Hght;

its

love behold the sun at night.

If the

Law

should thee forget.

More enamoured serve it yet Though it hate thee, suffer long Put the

Spirit in the

wrong

Brother, no decrepitude Chills the limbs of

fleet his feet, his

Time

His vision as sublime

On Nor

Nature's wheels there less

;

hands as good.

rust;

on man's enchanted dust

Beauty and Force

alight.

FRAGMENTS ON THE POET AND THE POETIC GIFT There

are beggars in Iran and Araby,

Said was hungrier than Hafiz said he was a

That came He came a

trail

Knew

all

fly

to every festival.

pilgrim to the

Mosque

of camel and caravan,

every temple and kiosk

Out from Mecca

to Ispahan

THE POET Northward he went

to the

321

snowy

hills,

court he sat in the grave Divan.

His music was the south-wind's

sigh.

His lamp, the maiden's downcast eye,

And ever the spell of beauty came And turned the drowsy world to flame. By lake and stream and gleaming hall And modest copse and the forest tall, Where'er he went, the magic guide

Kept

its

place by the poet's side.

Said melted the days like cups of pearl.

Served high and low, the lord and the churl.

Loved

harebells nodding

cabin

hung with

on a rock,

curling smoke.

Ring of axe or hum of wheel Or gleam which use can paint on

steel.

And

less

huts and tents

;

nor loved he

Stately lords in palaces.

Princely

women

hard to please.

Fenced by form and ceremony. courtly rites and dress

Decked by

And

etiquette of gentilesse.

But when the mate of the snow and wind,

He left each civil scale behind Him wood-gods fed with honey wild And of his memory beguiled. He loved to watch and wake When the wing of the south-wind whipt :

And

the glassy surface in ripples brake

the lake

;

THE POET

322

And

fled in pretty

Like the

flitting

frowns away

boreal lights.

Rippling roses in northern nights,

like the thrill

In which

of ^olian strings

the sudden wind-god rings.

In caves and hollow trees he crept

And near the wolf and panther slept. He came to the green ocean's brim And saw the wheeling sea-birds skim, Summer and winter, o^er-+he wave. Like creatures of

skiey rtiould.

Impassible to heat 6r~ernd.

stood before the tumbling main

With

joy too tense for sober brain

He shared the life of the element. The tie of blood and home was rent As

if in

him the welkin walked,

The winds took flesh, the mountains And he the bard, a crystal soul

talked.

Sphered and concentric with the whole. II

The

Dervish whined to Said,

" Thou

didst not tarry while I prayed.

Beware the

fire

that Eblis burned."

But Saadi coldly thus returned,

" Once with manlike

love and fear

gave thee for an hour

kept the sun and stars at bay.

ear,

;

THE POET And I

cannot

For

sell

323

words thy tongue could

love, for

say.

heaven again

that rattles in thy brain."

all

Ill

Said Saadi, "

When

I stood before

Hassan the camel-driver's door, I scorned the fame of Timour brave

Timour,

to Hassan, w^as a slave.

In every glance of Hassan's eye I read great years of victory.

And

who cower mean and

small

In the frequent interval

When

wisdom not with me resides, Worship Toil's wisdom that abides. I

shunned

shunned the

man's,

his eyes, that faithful

toiling

Hassan's glance."

The

civil

bards

But

if,

Bend

And

world will

who from

grown

maxims

live,

his practice to his prayer

following his mighty heart

solis !

found

That of goods If I

its

forgive

bold, the poet dare

Shame the times and Vee

much

fell

Once

live apart,

this.

could not miss

within the line.

member,

all

was mine.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

THE POET

324

Houses, banquets, gardens, fountains. Fortune's delectable mountains

But

if I

;

would walk alone.

Was

neither cloak nor

And

thus the high

crumb my own.

Muse

treated

me.

Directly never greeted me.

But when she spread her dearest Feigned to speak to some one I

was

free to overhear.

might

spells,

else.

at will forbear

Yet mark me

word

well, that idle

Thus

Was

the

And The The

proverb of a thousand years.

random overheard

symphony of wherewith

light

planets shone,

grew

in grain.

put on flesh in friendly form.

Frowned It

all

livery all events put on.

It fell in rain, It

spheres.

foe

and growled

in storm.

spoke in Tullius Cicero,

In Milton and

Angelo

Rome

I travelled

and found

Eastward

Heathendom on my hearth when I came home.

And

Mask

Toy

lay

;

filled all

thy wisdom with delight.

with the bow, yet hit the white.

; ;;

THE POET As

Jelaleddin old and gray

seemed

to bask, to

325 ;

dream and play

Without remoter hope or

fear

Than still to entertain his ear And pass the burning summer-time In the palm-grove with a rhyme

;

Heedless that each cunning word

Tribes and ages overheard

Those

idle

catches told the laws

Holding Nature to her cause.

God

only

Roses he

He In

knew how ate,

Saadi dined

and drank the wind

freelier breathed beside the pine, cities

he was low and mean;

The mountain waters washed him clean And by the sea-waves he was strong He heard their medicinal song. j

Asked no physician but the wave,

palace but his sea-beat cave.

Saadi held the

She was

Muse

his mistress

A twelvemonth Nor

Nor

awe. his

law

he could silence hold,

ran to speak

felt

and

till

she him told

the flame, the fanning wings.

o ffered words _till_the.y_mEiejhings^

Glad when the

solid

mountain swims

In music and uplifting hymns.

;

THE POET

326

Charmed from

fagot and from steel,

Harvests grew upon his tongue. Past and future must reveal All their heart w^hen Saadi sung; .

Sun and moon must

fall

amain

Like sower's seeds into

his brain,

There quickened

born again.

The

free

to be

winds told him what they knew.

Discoursed of fortune as they blew

Omens

and signs that

filled

the air

him authentic witness bare The birds brought auguries on

their wings.

And

carolled undeceiving things

Him

to beckon,

him

Well might then

warn

the poet scorn

learn of scribe or courier

Things writ

And on

his

in vaster character

mind

dawn of day

Soft shadows of the evening lay.

Pale genius roves

alone.

scout can track his way.

None

credits

him

till

he have shown

His diamonds to the day.

;

THE POET

327

Not his the feaster's wine, Nor land, nor gold, nor power, By want and pain God screeneth him Till his elected hour.

Go, speed

the stars of

Thought

to their shining goals

The

sower

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

scatters broad his seed,

'The wheat thou

strew'st be souls.

GRIEVE that better souls than mine

Docile read

measured

line

High destined youths and holy maids Hallow these my orchard shades Environ

With

and

baptize

light that streams

I dare not be beloved

from gracious eyes.

and known,

I ungrateful, I alone.

Ever

find

me dim

regards.

Love of ladies, love of bards. Marked forbearance, compliments, Tokens of benevolence.

What Fame

then, can I love myself

good

They

is profitless as pelf,

Nature not allowed

love

me,

as I love a cloud

Sailing falsely in the sphere.

Hated mist

if it

come

near.

THE POET

328

For

thought, and not praise;

Thought

the wages

For which

I sell days,

Will gladly

And

sell

ages

grow old dumb, and Deaf, and willing

blind,

and cold.

Melting matter into dreams,

Panoramas which

And whatever

saw

glows or seems

Into substance, into Law.

For Fancy's gift Can mountains lift; The Muse can knit

What

past,

what

done,

With the web that 's just begun j Making free with time and size. Dwindles here, there magnifies, Swells a rain-drop to a tun

;

So to repeat

word or feat Crowds in a day the sum of ages, And blushing Love outwits the sages.

;

THE POET

329

Try

the might the

And

the balm of thoughtful words

Muse

affords

Bring music to the desolate

Hang

But

roses

over

on the stony

all his

crowning grace,

Wherefor thanks God Is the purging

fate.

his daily praise,

of his eye

see the people of the sky

From

blue

mount and headland dim

Friendly hands stretch forth to him,

Him

they beckon, him advise

Of heavenlier

prosperities

And a more excelling grace And a truer bosom-glow Than the wine-fed feasters know. They turn his heart from lovely maids. And make the darlings of the earth Swainish, coarse and nothing worth

Teach him

gladly to postpone

Pleasures to another stage

Beyond

the scope of

human

age,

Freely as task at eve undone

Waits unblamed to-morrow's

sun.

;

THE POET

330

thoughts I lead

Bards to say what nations need

What

imports, what irks and what behooves.

Framed

afar as Fates

And

as the light divides the dark

Through with So

and Loves.

shall

living swords.

thou pierce the distant age

With adamantine words.

FRAMED

his

tongue to music,

armed

his

hand with

I I

moulded

And

For

skill,

beauty

his heart the throne

every

Obeys

his face to

the

of Will.

God hymn, obeys the

ode.

For

art, for

The

wine-cup shakes, the wine

music over-thrilled. is spilled.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

THE POET Hold Sit

of the Maker, not the

331

Made

with the Cause, or grim or glad.

That

book

Which

puts

good

in a

working mood.

Unless to Thought

Apollo

What

parts,

Ah, but

added Will,

an imbecile.

what gems, what colors

shine,

miss the grand design.

vaulters in a circus round

Who

leap

from h^

.se

to horse, but never touch the

ground.

For Genius made his cabin And Love led Gods therein

The

atom

displaces

And Genius

all

unspheres

wide. to bide.

atoms beside, all

souls that abide.

;

THE POET

332

transmute crime to wisdom, so to stem

The

vice of Japhet by the thought of Shem.

could condense cerulean ether

Into the very best sole-leather.

Forbore

the ant-hill,

In mercy, on one

HAVE no

And

brothers and

head.

the dearest interferes

When

would spend

Sun and moon

The

are in

peers,

a lonely day,

way.

brook sings on, but sings

Wanting

shunned to tread.

little

the echo in

in vain

brain.

planted where the deluge ploughed,

His hired hands were wind and cloud His eyes detect the Gods concealed In the

hummock

of the

field.

THE POET For what need

of book or

333 priest.

Or sibyl from the mummied East, When every star is Bethlehem star ? I count as

many

as there are

Cinquefoils or violets in the grass,

So many

saints

and

saviors,

So many high behaviors Salute the bard

And

who

alive

only sees what he doth give.

Coin

the day-dawn into lines

In which

its

proper splendor shines

Coin the moonlight into verse

Which

all its

marvel

shall rehearse.

Chasing with words fast-flowing things ; nor

To plant thy shrivelled pedantry On the shoulders of the sky.

Ah,

not to

those dreams belong

better voice peals through

song.

try

;

THE POET

334

The

Muse's

bolder foot

hill

by Fear

is still

guarded,

rewarded.

His instant thought a poet spoke.

And

An But

filled

the age his fame

inch of ground the lightning strook lit

the sky with flame.

If bright the sun, he tarries. All day his song

And when

heard;

he goes he carries

more baggage than

The Asmodean feat is To spin my sand-heap

a bird.

mine. into twine.

Slighted Minerva's learned tongue, But leaped with joy when on the wind

The

shell

of Clio rung.

;

FRAGMENTS ON NATURE AND LIFE

NATURE The

patient Pan,

Drunken with

nectar.

Sleeps or feigns slumber,

Drowsily humming

Music

to the

This poor

march of

time.

tooting, creaking cricket,

Pan, half asleep, rolling over

His great body

in the grass,

Tooting, creaking. Feigns to sleep, sleeping never

'T is his manner. Well he knows his own Piling

affair.

mountain chains of phlegm man.

the nervous brain of

As he holds down central fires Under Alps and Andes cold Haply else we could not live, Life would be too wild an ode.

Come Wild

search the

wood

tea and wild pea.

for flowers,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

NATURE

336

Grapevine and succory, Coreopsis

And

liatris.

Flaunting in their bowers

Grass with green

;

flag half-mast high,

Succory to match the sky.

Columbine with horn of honey, Scented fern and agrimony; Forest

full

of essences

Fit for fairy presences,

Peppermint and

Sweet

fern,

sassafras.

mint and vernal grass,

Panax, black birch, sugar maple.

Sweet and scent for Dian's Elder-blow, sarsaparilla.

Wild

rose, lily, dry vanilla,

table.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Spices in the plants that run

bring their

first fruits

to the sun.

Earliest heats, that follow frore

Nerved

leaf of hellebore.

Sweet willow, checkerberry red.

With

its

savory leaf for bread.

Silver birch

With the Found in

and black

selfsame spice polygala root and rind.

Sassafras, fern, benzoine.

Mouse-ear, cowslip, wintergreen.

Which by aroma may compel The frost to spare, what scents

so well.

;

NATURE

337

Where

the fungus broad and red

Lifts

head.

its

Like poisoned loaf of

elfin bread,

Where the aster grew With the social goldenrod. In a chapel, which the dew

Made

beautiful for

God

—

what would Nature say

She spared no speech to-day

The

fungus and the bulrush spoke,

Answered

The

the pine-tree and the oak.

wizard South blew down the glen,

Filled the straits and filled the wide.

Each maple

leaf turned

All things shine in his

And

all

Many

The maple

see are pictures high

their leafy ropes.

street

In the houseless wood, Voices followed

after.

Every shrub and grape

Rang with Like the

them

strain

King Oberoh.'s —'" --

—

leaf

fairy laughter.

1 have heard

ray,

a high hillside.

While oaks of pride Climb to their tops. And boys run out upon

;

its silver side.

smoky

fall

all

minstrelsy.

;

NATURE

338

Would hear the everlasting And know the only strong? You must worship fasting, You must listen long. Words of the air Which birds of the air Carry

To To To

For

aloft,

below, around.

the isles of the deep. the snow-capped steep, the thundercloud.

Nature, true and

Will hint her

in lone corners

in the

the sky-piercing horns of

of a doleful heath.

Andes watched by

And, when

every place.

like in

secret in a garden patch.

would

Himmaleh

recall the scenes I

Adirondac steeps,

Small need have

fleets at sea.

dreamed

know

of Turner or Daguerre,

Assured to find the token once again In

silver lakes that

And

peaceful

unexhausted gleam

woods beside

cottage door.

;

NATURE What What

prayers and dreams of youthful genius feign,

I daily dwell in, and

But

339

the books of ages paint, I have.

all

can see the

not so blind

elastic tent

of day

Belike has wider hospitality

Than my few needs exhaust, and bids me The quaint devices on its mornings gay. Yet Nature

read

will not be in full possessed.

And they who truliest love her, heralds are And harbingers of a majestic race. Who, having more absorbed, more largely yield, And walk on earth as the sun walks in the sphere.

But

never yet the

Who

man was found

could the mystery expound,

Though Adam, born when oaks were young. Endured, the Bible

But when

The Gordian

noose was

He left, though Meek Nature's

Atom

says, as long

at last the patriarch died

untied.

goodly centuries old, secret

still

from atom yawns

As moon from

still

untold.

as far

earth, or star

from

star.

NATURE

340

When To

Why

all their

blooms the meadows flaunt

deck the morning of the year. tinge thy lustres jubilant

With

forecast or with fear

Teach me your mood,

Who

patient stars

climb each night the ancient sky,

Leaving on space no shade, no

trace of age,

scars.

fear to die.

The sun athwart the cloud thought it no To use my land to put his rainbows in.

For joy and beauty planted it. With faerie gardens cheered. And boding Fancy haunted it With men and women weird.

What

central flowing forces, say.

Make up

thy splendor, matchless day?

sin

NATURE Day

by day

341

for her darlings to her

much

she added

more; In her hundred-gated Thebes every chamber was a door,

door to something grander,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

loftier

walls,

vaster floor.

She

paints with white and red the

draw the nations out of

moors

doors.

SCORE of airy mUes will smooth Rough Monadnoc to a gem.

THE EARTH

Our

eyeless bark sails free

Though

with

boom and

spar

Andes, Alp or Himmalee, Strikes never

moon

star.

THE HEAVENS

Wisp and meteor nightly falling, But the Stars of God remain.

and

;

NATURE

342

TRANSITION See yonder

How

leafless trees against the sky,

they diffuse themselves into the

air,

And, ever subdividing, separate

Limbs into branches, branches into twigs, As if they loved the element, and hasted

dissipate their being into

Parks and ponds I

it.

are good by day

do not delight

In black acres of the night,

Nor my unseasoned step disturbs The sleeps of trees or dreams of herbs.

In Walden wood the chickadee

Runs round

the pine and maple tree

Intent on insect slaughter

tufted entomologist

Devour

Then

The And

many as you list. Walden water.

drink in

low December vault

June be

largest clouds be flakes of

sky.

down

lifted

in that

high.

enormous

NATURE THE GARDEN

Many

things the garden shows.

And pleased I stray From tree to tree Watching

the white pear-bloom,

Bee-infested quince or plum.

walk days, years, away

I could

Till the slow ripening, secular tree

Had Nor

reached

its

think

long.

Solar

insect

fruiting-time.

on the wing

In the garden murmuring.

Soothing with thy

summer horn

Swains by winter pinched and worn.

BIRDS

Darlings of children and of bard, Perfect kinds by vice unmarred.

Ail of worth and beauty set

Gems

Nature's cabinet;

These the

fables she esteems

Reality most like to dreams.

343

;

: :

;

NATURE

344

Welcome

back, you

little

nations,

Far-travelled in the south plantations

Bring your music and rhythmic

Your

flight,

colors for our eyes' delight

Freely nestle in our roof.

Weave your chamber weatherproof; And your enchanting manners bring And your autumnal gathering. Exchange

conclave general

Greetings kind to each and

all,

Conscious each of duty done

And

unstained as the sun.

WATER

The

water understands

Civilization well It

wets

It chills It

my foot, but prettily my life, but wittily.

not disconcerted,

not broken-hearted

It is

Well

used,

decketh joy,

Adorneth, doubleth joy 111

used,

will destroy,

In perfect time and measure

With

a face of golden pleasure

Elegantly destroy.

NATURE

345

NAHANT ALL day I

the waves assailed the rock,

heard no church-bell chime,

The sea-beat scorns the minster clock And breaks the glass of Time.

SUNRISE

Would

you know what joy

hid

In our green Musketaquid,

And for travelled eyes what charms Draw us to these meadow farms. Come and I will show you all Makes each day

a festival.

Stand upon this pasture

Face the eastern

hill.

star until

The slow eye of heaven shall show The world above, the world below. Behold the miracle

Thou saw'st but now the twilight sad And stood beneath the firmament,

watchman

Waiting

Behold the

in a

dark gray tent.

God create the earth, new majestic birth

till

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

NATURE

346

The

mottled clouds, like scraps of wool.

Steeped in the light are beautiful.

What Over

majestic stillness broods these colored solitudes.

Sleeps the vast East in pleased peace,

the far

mountain walls the streams increase

Inundating the heaven

With spouting streams and waves of Which round the floating isles unite

light

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

See the world below

Baptized with the pure element,

clear

and glorious firmament

Touched with

life

by every beam.

share the good with every flower,

drink the nectar of the hour

This

Whereof

The But

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

old chronicles relate

tragic tales of crime

rather, like

And

not the ancient earth

dew-bent

its

and

beads of

violets, fresh

fate

;

dew and new.

exhalation of the time.

NIGHT IN JUNE I

LEFT

dreary page and sallied forth.

Received the

fair inscriptions

of the night

NATURE The moon was making amber

347 of the world,

Glittered with silver every cottage pane,

The

trees

were

rich, yet

ominous with gloom.

The meadows From

ferns

broad

and grapes and from the folded flowers

Sent a nocturnal fragrance

Flashed their small

;

harlot

fires in air,

flies

or held their court

In fairy groves of herds-grass.

lives

All

not

who

can refuse

Come

force saith.

all

the zone

Seems, though the

;

and use

gleam of sun, a summer

And

green again.

soft

sheen

all

enchants,

Cheers the rough crag and mournful

on such

A wintry

Put And

dell,

stern forms and haunts

storm more

in, drive

rain.

home

split to flakes

fitly fell.

the sightless wedges the crystal ledges.

NATURE

348

MAIA Illusion works impenetrable.

Weaving webs innumerable, Her gay pictures never fail, Crowds each on other, veil on veil. Charmer who will be believed By man who thirsts to be deceived.

Illusions like the

Or Or

tints

ribbons of a dancing

That mend her beauty

The

cold gray

And

the poor spinners

of pearl.

changing colors of the sky.

down upon

girl

to the eye.

the quinces lieth

weave

their

webs thereon

share the sunshine that so spicy

Samson Gropes

When

Did

Dagon's knee.

columns strong

his ringlets

Groped

But Nature

stark, at

for

is.

;

grew and curled,

for axle of the world.

whistled with

as she pleased

all

her winds.

and went her way.

LIFE

TRAIN of gay and clouded days Dappled with joy and grief and praise, Beauty to fire us, saints to save. Escort us to a

fate,

little

save by the victim's fault,

For God hath writ So

grave.

all

low,

dooms magnificent,

guilt not traverses his tender will.

Around Not

the

man who

seeks a noble end.

angels but divinities attend.

From high to higher forces The scale of power uprears, The heroes on their horses, The gods upon their spheres.

LIFE

350

This

moment

shining

Which

an edifice

the Omnipotent cannot rebuild.

Roomy

Eternity

Casts her schemes rarely,

And

an aeon allows

For each

Of the

quality and part

multitudinous

And many-chambered

The And

heart.

beggar begs by God's gifts

awake when

command,

givers sieep.

Swords cannot cut the giving hand

Nor

stab the love that orphans keep.

In the chamber, on the

stairs,

Lurking dumb.

and come

Lemurs and Lars.

Such another peerless queen Only could her mirror show.

;

LIFE Easy

match what others do,

Perform the

Hard

And The

351

feat as well as they

to out-do the brave, the true, find a loftier

way

school decays, the learning spoils

Because of the sons of wine

How

Yet can one ray of truth

The

;

snatch the stripling from their

toils

divine

blaze of revellers' feasts outshine.

all

wit's uses the

Is to live well with

The

tongue

Not

has none.

prone to lose the way,

so the pen, for in a letter

We have

not better things to say.

But surely say them

She walked

As June

main one

who

in flowers

better.

around

my field

herself around the sphere.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

LIFE

352 Friends I

are frozen

wine;

wait the sun on them should

You

shine.

me for what daily spends know me in the noisy street.

shall not love

You shall not Where I, as others, follow petty ends Nor when in fair saloons we chance to meet Nor when I 'm jaded, sick, anxious or mean. But love me then and only, when you know Me for the channel of the rivers of God From deep ideal fontal heavens that flow.

and

fro the

light

Over

And

Genius

the maiden's head

dips sometimes as

Of her

flies,

which plays and hovers

faults I take

low

as to her eyes.

no note,

Fault and folly are not mine

Comes

the Genius,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

all 's

forgot,

Replunged again into that upper sphere

scatters

wide and wild

its

lustres here.

;;

;

;;

; ;

LIFE

353

Love Asks nought his brother cannot give Asks nothing, but does all receive. Love calls not to his aid events ;

to his

wants can well

Asks not of others

suffice

soft consents,

Nor kind occasion without eyes Nor plots to ope or bolt a gate. Nor heeds Condition's iron walls, Where he goes, goes before him Fate Whom he uniteth, God installs

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

Instant and perfect his access

the dear object of his thought,

Though

foes

Himself and

The

and land and seas between his love intervene.

brave Empedocles, defying fools,

Pronounced the word that mortals hate

I I

am am

divine, I

superior to

Not Sense

not mortal

my human

but Reason

to hear

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

made

weeds."

the Judge of truth

Reason 's twofold, part human, part divine That human part may be described and taught,

The

other portion language cannot speak.

;

LIFE

354

Tell men what

they

knew

before

Paint the prospect from their door.

Him

strong Genius urged to roam,

Stronger

That

Custom brought him home.

each should in his house abide.

Therefore was the world so wide.

Thou The

Spirits

Who I

shalt

make thy house

temple of a nation's vows. of a higher strain sought thee once shall seek again.

detected

many

a god

Forth already on the road. Ancestors of beauty come In thy breast to

The

archangel

Looks

make

home.

Hope

to the azure cope.

Waits through dark ages for the morn. Defeated day by day, but unto victory born.

LIFE As As

the drop feeds

its

355

fated flower,

Alp the snowy shower,

finds its

Child of the omnific Need,

Hurled into

Man

life

to do a deed,

drinks the water, drinks the light.

Ever

Rock of Ages

the

Into the mineral

air.

be the quarry whence to build

Thought and

melts

its

mansions

fair.

thou wilt, ambrosial flower,

match thee with thy seeming peers;

I will wait

Through

Heaven's perfect hour the innumerable years.

Yes, sometimes to the sorrow-stricken Shall his

own sorrow seem

impertinent,

thing that takes no more root in the world

Than

doth the traveller's shadow on the rock.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

LIFE

356

But

thou do thy best,

Without remission, without

And And Even

And

invite the

abhor to feign or seem to those

who

thee should love

thy behavior approve

If thou go in thine

rest,

sunbeam.

health, or be

own it

likeness,

sickness

If thou go as thy father's son. If thou wear no

mask

lie.

Dealing purely and nakedly,

Ascending thorough just degrees To a consummate holiness.

angel blind to trespass done.

And

bleaching

all

souls like the sun.

From the stores of eldest matter. The deep-eyed flame, obedient water. Transparent

air,

all-feeding earth.

took the flower of

And,

all

their worth,

best with best in sweet consent,

Combined

new temperament.

LIFE

357

REX

The

bard and mystic held

I filled the

dream of

for their

took the friendly noble by the hand,

was the

The And

own,

sad, poetic maids,

man,

trustee of the hand-cart

brother of the fisher, porter, swain. these from the crowd's edge well pleased

beheld

The

service done to

With

done to them.

the key of the secret he marches faster,

From

strength to strength, and for night brings

day;

While

The

classes or tribes, too

weak

flowing conditions of

life,

to master

give way.

SUUM CUIQUE

Wilt

thou seal up the avenues of

Pay every debt

as if

God

ill ?

wrote the

bill.

LIFE

358

If curses be the wage of love,

Hide

thy

Not

sicies,

to be

thou

named

fruitless

Jove,

It is clear

Why

the gods will not appear;

They

When And

are ashamed.

wrath and terror changed Jove's regal port.

the rash-leaping thunderbolt

Shun

fell

passion, fold the hands of thrift.

Sit still

Suddenly

and Truth it

near

will uplift

Your i UUl CycllUS eyelids to LU the LllC SjJllClC sphere Wait a little, you shall see

The

short.

portraiture of things to be.

The rules to men made evident By Him who built the day, The columns Not

of the firmament

firmer based than they.

bravely through the sunshine and the showers

Time

hath his work to do and

we have

ours.

;;

THE BOHEMIAN HYMN In many forms we

God's

utter

try

infinity,

But the boundless hath no form,

And

the Universal Friend

Doth

as far transcend

angel as a

The

worm.

great Idea baffles wit,

Language

falters

under

it.

It leaves the learned in the lurch

Nor

art,

nor power,' nor

toil

can find

The measure of the eternal Mind, Nor hymn, nor prayer, nor church.

GRACE How To

much, preventing God, how much

the defences thou hast round

Example, custom,

fear,

occasion slow,

These scorned bondmen were my

owe

set

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

parapet.

I dare not peep over this parapet

gauge with glance the roaring gulf below,

The Had

depths of sin to which I had descended.

not these

against myself defended.

;

INSIGHT Power

that

by obedience grows.

Knowledge which

Wave

its

From

which severs

source not knows.

whom

bears

the things which he compares,

Adding wings through things

his

own

to range,

blood harsh and strange.

PAN

WHAT

are heroes, prophets,

men.

But pipes through which the breath of Pan doth blow

momentary music. Being's

tide

Swells hitherward, and myriads of forms

Live, robed with beauty, painted by the sun

Their dust, pervaded by the nerves of God,

Throbs with an overmastering energy Knowing and doing. Ebbs the tide, they lie White hollow shells upon the desert shore. But not the

less the eternal

new

animate

millions,

Races and planets,

its

wave

rolls

and exhale

enchanted foam.

MONADNOC FROM AFAR Dark

flower of Cheshire garden,

Red evening duly dyes

Thy

sombre head with rosy hues

To Well

fix

Works I

far-gazing eyes.

the Planter

muse what

knew how strongly human thought ;

thy form on

draw

secret purpose had he

all

fancies to this spot.

SEPTEMBER In the turbulent beauty

Of a

gusty

Autumn

day.

Poet on a sunny headland Sighed his soul away.

Farms

the sunny landscape dappled,

Swandown

clouds dappled the farms,

Cattle lowed in mellow distance

Where

far

oaks outstretched their arms.

Sudden gusts came All too

Oh,

much

full

of meaning.

him they

said,

south winds have long memories,

Of that

be none afraid.

EROS â&#x20AC;&#x201D; OCTOBER

362 I

cannot

tell

Half the

rude listeners

tell-tale

South-wind

said,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

'T would bring the blushes of yon maples To a man and to a maid.

EROS They

put their finger on their

lip.

The Powers above The seas their islands clip. The moons in ocean dip. They love, but name not love.

OCTOBER October woods wherein

The boy's dream comes to pass. And Nature squanders on the boy her pomp. And crowns him with a more than royal crown, And unimagined splendor waits his steps." The gazing urchin walks through tents of gold. Through crimson chambers, porphyry and

pearl.

Pavilion on pavilion, garlanded.

Incensed and starred with

lights

and

Color and sound, music to eye and

Beyond the

best conceit of

pomp

airs

and shapes.

ear.

or power.

PETER'S FIELD [Knows

To What

who

reap

mystic

fruit his acres yield

At midnight and That

field

And I

this lonely field

tills

scanty corn,

its

morn

bad and good,

spirits

Hell and Heaven

haunted.

every rood in the hemlock v/ood

know

ground enchanted.

[In the long sunny afternoon

The I

plain

was

wandered up,

full

of ghosts

wandered down,

Beset by pensive hosts.]

For

in those lonely grounds the sun

Shines not as on the town.

In nearer arcs

And There

his journeys run.

nearer stoops the moon.

in a

moment

have seen

The buried Past arise The fields of Thessaly grew ;

Old gods forsook

green,

the skies.

;

; ;

PETER'S FIELD

364 I

What It

my rhyme

cannot publish in

pranks the greenwood played

was the Carnival of time, And Ages went or stayed.

To me

that spectral

nook appeared

The mustering Day of Doom, And round me swarmed in shadowy Things past and things

The

darkness haunteth

There

full

me I

elsewhere

hear

sense than sages write.

Underwoods were

full

of pleasance,

All to each in kindness bend.

And

every flower

man

Far seen, the

made obeisance

unto his friend.

river glides below,

Tossing one sparkle to the eyes I catch thy

The

meaning, wizard wave

River of

troop

come.

of light

In every whispering leaf

Life replies.

MUSIC Let me I

go where'er I

will,

hear a sky-born music

still

sounds from

all

things old,

sounds from

all

things young,

From

all

that

's fair,

from

all

that

foul,

PeaJs out a cheerful song.

not only in the rose.

not only in the bird.

Not only where the rainbow glows, Nor in the song of woman heard.

But in the darkest, meanest things There alway, alway something sings.

'T is not in the high stars alone. Nor in the cup of budding flowers, Nor in the redbreast's mellow tone. Nor in the bow that smiles in showers, But in the mud and scum of things There alway, alway something sings.

THE WALK A

QUEEN

rejoices in her peers.

And wary Nature knows her own By court and city, dale and down, And like a lover volunteers, And to her son will treasures more And more to purpose freely pour In one wood walk, than learned men Can

find with glass in ten times ten.

COSMOS

Who

saw the

When

hid beginnings

Chaos and Order

strove.

Or who can date the morning, The purple flaming of love

I saw the hid beginnings

When

Chaos and Order

strove.

And I can date the morning And purple flame of love.

prime

;

COSMOS Song breathed from

367 the forest.

all

The

total air was fame seemed the world was all torches

That suddenly caught

the flame.

Is there never a retroscope mirror

In the realms and corners of space

That can

And Sit

give us a glimpse of the battle

the soldiers face to face?

here on the basalt courses

Where twisted hills betray The seat of the world-old Forces

Who

When

wrestled here on a day.

the purple flame shoots up.

And Love

ascends his throne,

I cannot hear your songs,

For the witchery of

And

every

Still

And

human

heart

keeps that golden day

rings the bells of jubilee

its

own

First of

birds,

own.

May.

;

THE MIRACLE I

HAVE

trod this path a hundred times

With idle footsteps, crooning rhymes. I know each nest and web-worm's tent, The fox-hole which the woodchucks rent, Maple and oak,

the old

Divan

Self-planted twice, like the banian. I

know

not

why

Unless to learn

came

read the sense the

You must Love

again

ten times ten.

woods impart

bring the throbbing heart.

aye the counterforce,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Terror and Hope and wild Remorse,

Newest knowledge, fiery thought, Or Duty to grand purpose wrought. Wandering yester morn the brake, I

reached this heath beside the lake,

And The

oh, the

wonder of the power.

deeper secret of the hour

Nature, the supplement of man.

His hidden sense interpret can

What

friend to friend cannot

Shall the

dumb

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

convey

bird instructed say.

Passing yonder oak,

Sharp accents of

heard

woodland bird

;

THE WATERFALL

369

I watched the singer with delight,

But mark what changed

When

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

my joy to

that bird sang, I gave the

fright,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

theme

That wood-bird sang my last night's dream, A brown wren was the Daniel That pierced my trance its drift to tell,

Knew my Published

quarrel,

how and why.

to lake

and sky.

Told every word and

syllable

In his flippant chirping babble. All

wrath and

Nay, God

all

shames,

witness, gave the names.

THE WATERFALL A

PATCH of meadow upland Reached by a mUe of road,

Soothed by the voice of waters,

With Hither

birds

and flowers bestowed.

come

Which

well

for strength it

can supply,

For Love draws might from

And IX

potencies of sky.

terrene force

;

WALDEN

370

The

tremulous battery Earth

Responds to the touch of man

;

It thrills to the antipodes.

From Boston

to Japan.

The planets' child the planet knows And to his joy replies ;

the lark's

trill

Clouds flush

When

unfolds the rose,

their gayest dyes.

Ali prayed and loved

Where Syrian waters roll. Upward the ninth heaven thrilled and moved At

the tread of the jubilant soul.

WALDEN In

garden three ways meet.

Thrice the spot

blest

Hermit-thrush comes there to build, Carrier-doves to nest.

There broad-armed oaks, the copses' maze,

The Here

cold sea-wind detain

sultry

Summer

When Autumn

overstays

chills the plain.

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

WALDEN Self-sown

The

grows

stately garden

winds and wind-blown seed,

Cold April

371

rain

and colder snows

hedges plant and feed.

From mountains far and valleys The harvests sown to-day Thrive

in all weathers

Wild In

planters, plant

cities

in these

away

fear,

high the careful crowds

Of woe-worn But

without

near

mortals darkling^o,

sunny solitudes

quiet roses blow.

Methought the sky looked scornful down On all was base in man,

And '

town,

airy tongues did taunt the

Achieve our peace

who can

What need I holier dew Than Walden's haunted

wave,

Distilled from heaven's alembic blue,

Steeped in each forest cave

[If

Thought unlock her

If Friendship on I

walk

I talk

marble

mysteries,

smile,

galleries,

with kings the while.]

THE ENCHANTER

372

How

drearily in College hall

The Doctor But

stretched the hours,

each pause

Of robins The air is And all

heard the call

out of doors.

wise, the

wind thinks well.

through which

blows.

If plants or brain, if egg or shell.

Or And I

bird or biped

;

home 'mid tasks I how wears the day

oft at

heed

must not

The

knows

heed,

;

halt while fiercely speed

spans of

life

away.

What boots it here of Thebes Or lands of Eastern day ? In forests I am still at home And there I cannot stray.

Rome

THE ENCHANTER In the deep heart of man a poet dwells

Who

all

Scatters

the day of

life his

summer

on every eye dust of

story tells

}

his spells.

Scent, form and color; to the flowers and shells

;

IN A Wins

373

the believing child with wondrous tales

Touches

And

VOLUME OF GOETHE

;

a cheek with colors of romance,

crowds a history

into a glance

Gives beauty to the lake and fountain, Spies oversea the

fires

When

ope

thrushes

of the mountain their

throat,

;

't is

that

sings.

And The

he that paints the little

oriole's fiery wings.

Shakspeare in the maiden's heart

Makes Romeo of a plough-boy on his cart Opens the eye to Virtue's starlike meed

And

gives persuasion to a gentle deed.

WRITTEN

A VOLUME OF GOETHE

Six thankful weeks,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

meter of prosperity,

And

let it

coat I bore this book.

seldom therein could

I look.

For I had too much to think, Heaven and earth to eat and drink. Is

he hapless

who

can spare

In his plenty things so rare

RICHES Have

ye seen the caterpillar

Foully warking in

man

the poor

nest

getting

siller.

Without cleanness, without

Have ye

seen the butterfly

In braw? claithing drest

rest-

the poor

man

gotten rich,

In rings and painted vest.

The poor man craw^ls in web of rags And sore bested with woes. But when he

flees

riches' wings,

laugheth at his foes.

PHILOSOPHER

Philosophers are

And, being

lined with eyes within.

so, the sage

unmakes the man.

In love, he cannot therefore cease his trade Scarce the

first

;

blush has overspread his cheek,

feels

catch the unconscious heart in the very act.

it,

introverts his learned eye

—

INTELLECT — LIMITS His mother

Some

like a cat sat

throttled

That

375

the only friend he had,

tears escaped, but his philosophy-

Couched

And

—

died,

watching close behind

his passion.

all

devil-spider that devours her

Scarce freed from her embraces

not like

mate

INTELLECT Gravely And,

broods apart on joy.

truth to

tell,

amused by

pain.

LIMITS

Who

knows

Hark

in the wall to the rat

this or that

Since the world was, he has gnawed

Of his What

wisdom, of dost thou

In the wretched Is life

his fraud

know little

beast

and heart,

Child and parent.

Not without

relation

fruitful field

What

art

thou

and sun and moon. His wicked eye

Is cruel to thy cruelty.

;

MEMORY OF THE MARTYRS OF THE WAR

INSCRIPTION FOR A

WELL

Fall, stream, from Heaven to So did our sons

;

bless

Heaven met them

;

return as well

as they

fell.

THE EXILE (after taliessin)

The heavy blue chain Of the boundless main Didst thou, just man, endure.

HAVE an arrow

that will find

its

mark,

mastiff that will bite without a bark.

POEMS OF 'OUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD 1823-1834

THE BELL I

LOVE thy music, mellow

life

or death, to heaven or hell.

Which

Thy

calls the sons

charms

sea-boy hails.

his cares to sleep.

It cheers

of Time.

voice upon the deep

The home-bound It

bell,

chime.

I love thine iron

him

house of

God and

sails.

heavenly joys

Thy summons called our sires. And good men thought thy^ sacred Disarmed the thunder's

And

voice

fires.

soon thy music, sad death-bell.

Shall

lift its

notes once more.

And mix my requiem with the wind That sweeps my native shore. 1823.

;

THOUGHT I

AM not poor, but I am proud, Of one inalienable right.

Above

the envy of the crowd,

Thought's holy

Better

And

light.

than gems or gold.

it is

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

cannot

But thought

will

die.

glow when the sun grows

cold,

And mix

with Deity.

Boston, 1823.

PRAYER When

success exalts thy lot,

God for thy virtue lays a plot And all thy life is for thy own. Then for mankind's instruction shown And though thy knees were never bent.

To Heaven

thy hourly prayers are sent.

And whether formed Are

registered

1826 [?].

for

good or

and answered

still,

ill.

;

I BEAR in youth the sad infirmities That use to undo the limb and sense of age It hath pleased Heaven to break the dream of bliss Which lit my onward way with bright presage,

And my unserviceable limbs forego. The sweet delight I found in fields and

windy

And

lakes,

Yet

I think

Still

farms,

whose tops with morning glow. smooth mirrors of Aurora's charms.

hills,

on them

in the silent night.

breaks that morn, though dim, to

Memory's

eye,

And

the firm soul does the pale train defy

Of grim Please

And

Disease, that would her peace affright.

God,

'11

wrap me

bid each awful

Muse

mine innocence.

drive the

damned

harpies

hence.

Cambridge, 1827.

Be of good

cheer, brave spirit

;

steadfastly

Serve that low whisper thou hast served

God

Now Who By Is

hath a select family of sons

;

for

know,

scattered widelhro' eafth^and each alone, are thy spiritual kindred,

and each one

constant service to that inward law.

weaving the sublime proportions true monarch's soul.) Beauty and strength.

Of a

— TO-DAY

382

The riches of a spotless memory. The eloquence of truth, the wisdom got By searching of a clear and loving eye That seeth as God seeth. These are their gifts. And Time, who keeps God's word, brings on

the

day

seal the

Thine

The

marriage of these minds with thine.

everlasting lovers.

salt

all

shall

the elements, world of the world.

TO-DAY I

RAKE no

The

coffined clay, nor publish wide

resurrection of departed pride.

Safe in their ancient crannies, dark and deep.

Let kings and conquerors, Late

in the world,

—

saints

and

soldiers sleep

too late perchance for fame,

Just late enough to reap abundant blame, I

choose a novel theme, a bold abuse

Of critic

charters, an unlaurelled

Muse.

Old mouldy men and books and names and Disgust I

had as

As I

reason and defile

lief respect

lands

hands.

an ancient shoe.

love old things /»r age^ and hate the new.

spurn the Past,

Nor

kneels in

my mind

homage

to so

disdains

mean

its

nod.

God.

;}

;

FAME

383

I laugh at those

The

who, while they gape and gaze, bald antiquity of China praise.

Youth

The

(whatever cynic tubs pretend)

fault that

boys and nations soonest mend.

1824.

FAME Ah

man

Fate, cannot a

Be wise without

a beard

East, West, from Beer to Say,

was

never heard

That wisdom might

youth be gotten,

wit be ripe before

pays too high a price

For knowledge and

Who

sells his

Dan,

was

for

rotten

fame

sinews to be wise.

His teeth and bones to buy a name,

And

crawls through

life

a paralytic

earn the praise of bard and

Were

critic.

not better done,

dine and sleep through forty years

Be loved by few be feared by none Laugh life away have wine for tears ;

;

And

take the mortal leap undaunted.

Content that

all

asked was granted

;

THE SUMMONS

384 But Fate

will not permit

The seed of gods to die, Nor suffer sense to win from guerdon

Its

Nor let us hide, whate'er our The world's light underneath

wit

in the sky,

pleasure,

a measure.

then, sad youth, and shine

Go,

Fame;

sacrifice to

Put youth, joy, health upon the shrine,

And

life to

fan the flame

Being for Seeming bravely barter

And

die to

Fame

a happy martyr.

1824.

THE SUMMONS A

STERNER errand to the silken troop Has quenched the uneasy blush that warmed

commissioned

my cheek

day of joy

To leave my woods and streams and the sweet Of prayer and song that were my dear delight. To leave the rudeness of my woodland life.

sloth

Sweet twilight walks and midnight solitude

And And The

kind acquaintance with the morning stars the glad hey-day of

household hours,

innocent mirth which sweetens daily bread,

Railing in love to those

who

rail

again,

THE RIVER By

385

mind's industry sharpening the love of

Books, Muses, Study, I loved

And

life

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

and love,

fireside, friends

ye with true love, so fare ye well

was a boy

;

boyhood

slid

gayly by

the impatient years that trod on

Taught me new

lessons in the lore of

I 've learned the

sum of

life.

that sad history

All woman-born do know, that hoped-for days.

Days that come dancing on fraught with' delights. Dash our blown hopes as they limp heavUy by. But I, the bantling of a country Muse, Abandon all those toys with speed to obey The King whose meek ambassador I go. 1826.

THE RIVER And

I behold

once more

old familiar haunts

The same

blue

wonder

;

here the blue river.

that

infant eye

Admired, sage doubting whence the

traveller

came,

Whence brought his sunny bubbles ere he washed The fragrant flag-roots in my father's fields. And where thereafter in the world he went. Look, here he is, unaltered, save that now He hath broke his banks and flooded all the vales IX

;

THE RIVER

386

With

his

Here I

redundant waves.

the rock where, yet a simple child,

caught with bended pin

Much

triumphing,

Over whose

—

hark

Hold

are the same, but I

But wiser than

fairy fine.

where overhead the ancient crows

their sour conversation in the

These

Not

earliest fish.

flowers I chased the butterfly,

blooming hunter of a

And

and these the fields

sky

—

not the same.

was, and wise enough

to regret the changes, tho' they cost

many

These These

a sigh.

trees

Oh,

call

not Nature

dumb;

and stones are audible to me.

idle flowers, that

tremble in the wind,

I understand their faery syllables.

And That It

all their

rustles

sad significance.

down

The

wind.

the well-known forest road

—

hath a sound more eloquent than speech.

The

stream, the trees, the grass, the sighing wind.

All of them utter sounds of 'monishment

And grave parental love. They are not of our race, they seem to say. And yet have knowledge of our moral race. And somewhat of majestic sympathy. Something of pity for the puny clay.

That

holds and boasts the immeasurable mind.

I feel as I

were welcome

to these trees

After long months of weary wandering,

Acknowledged by

their hospitable

boughs

Lines They know me as They were coeval

to ellen

387

their son, for side

with

Adorned with them

side.

ancestors.

country's primitive times,

soon may give my dust Concord, June, iSay.

And

their funeral shade.

GOOD HOPE The

cup of

life is

not so shallow

That we That all the wine And lees make all

Maids of as

bloom

have drained the best.

As Hymen

soft a

once

we swallow

the rest.

shall

marry

yet hath blessed.

And fairer forms are in Than Phidias released.

the quarry

1827.

LINES Tell me, Thyself

TO ELLEN

maiden, dost thou use

thro'

Nature to

diffuse

All the angles of the coast

Were

tenanted by thy sweet ghost,

;

SECURITY

388

Bore thy colors every flower,

Thine each

leaf

and berry bore

All wore thy badges and thy favors

In their scent or

in their savors,

Every moth with painted wing. Every bird

in carolling,

The wood-boughs with thy manners waved, The rocks uphold thy name engraved. The sod throbbed friendly to my feet, And the sweet air with thee was sweet. The saffron cloud that floated warm Studied thy motion, took thy form.

And

in his airy road

Recalled thy

Or seemed

To To

skill in

benign bold design,

to use his privilege

gaze o'er the horizon's edge. search where

Or made what

now

thy beauty glowed,

other purlieus proud.

1829.

SECURITY Though And

her eye seek other forms

a glad delight below.

Yet the love the world Bids for

her

that warms bosom glow.

SECURITY She must love me

Another heart

till

as large

389

she find

and

true.

Her

soul

And

the world has only two.

frank as the ocean wind,

If Nature hold another heart

That knows

a purer flame than

me,

I too therein could challenge part

And

learn of love a

new

degree.

1829.

DULL uncertain brain, But gifted yet to know That God has cherubim who go Singing an immortal strain,

Immortal here below. I

know

the mighty bards,

when they And now I know I listen

sing.

The secret store Which these explore

When

they with torch of genius pierce

The tenfold clouds that cover The riches of the universe From God's adoring lover.

A MOUNTAIN GRAVE

390

And

if to

it is

not given

To fetch one ingot thence Of the unfading gold of Heaven His merchants may dispense,

Yet well

And

know

the royal mine,

know^ the sparkle of

Know

its

Heaven's truth from

ore, lies

that shine

Explored they teach us to explore. i8]i.

A MOUNTAIN GRAVE

Why And

fear to die

let

Under

Thy

thy body

lie

the flowers of June,

body food

For the ground-worms' brood

And

thy grave smiled on by the visiting moon.

Amid

great Nature's halls

Girt in by mountain walls

And washed It

with waterfalls

would please

Where

to die.

every wind that swept

Goes loaded with

my tomb

a free perfume

Dealt out with a God's charity.

A LETTER

39]

I should like to die in sweets,

leaves for winding-sheets.

hill's

And

the searching sun to see

That

And

laid

with decency.

the commissioned wind to sing

His mighty psalm from

And

to spring

fall

annual tunes commemorate

Of Nature's

common

child the

fate.

WiLLiAMSTOWN, Vermont, June,

831.

A LETTER Dear

brother,

Please

God,

the

first

would you know the

that I

wheels that quit

Over yon western

And

life,

would lead? bridges I

this

weary town

would

ride

with a cheerful benison forsake

Each

street

and

spire

and roof, incontinent.

Then would I seek where God might guide my steps, Deep in a woodland tract, a sunny farm. Amid the mountain counties, Hants, Franklin, Berks, Where down the rock ravine a river roars. Even from a brook, and where Not tamed and cleared cumber

With Find

old

woods

the ground

their centennial wrecks.

a slope where I can feel the sun

;

A LETTER

392

And mark There

The

the rising of the early stars.

will I bring

reliquaries of

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

my household my books, my dead saint, and dwell

In the sweet odor of her memory.

Then

uncouth solitude unlock

in the

stock of

art,

plant dials in the grass,

Hang in the air a bright thermometer And aim a telescope at the inviolate sun. Chardon

St.,

Boston, 1831.

Day

by day returns

The

everlasting sun.

Replenishing material urns

With God's unspared

donation

But the day of day,

The

orb within the mind.

Creating

fair

and good alway.

Shines not as once

shined.

Vast the realm of Being In the waste one nook

Whatsoever hap

is,

his

befalls

In his vision's narrow walls

1S31.

here to testify.

gods,

HYMN There

in all the sons

men

love that in the spirit dwells,

That panteth

And

And God

keep

And

after things unseen.

tidings of the future tells.

hath built his altar here this fire

speak the truth

And

faith alive.

sent his priests in holy fear

hither

come

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

for truth to strive.

the pensive train

Of rich and poor, of young and old. Of ardent youth untouched by pain, Of thoughtful maids and manhood bold. They

seek a friend to speak the word

Already trembling on their tongue,

touch with prophet's hand the chord

Which God

hearts hath strung.

speak the plain reproof of sin

That sounded

And

human

bid

you

That knock

in the soul before.

let

the angels in

meek

contrition's door.

;

SELF-RELIANCE

394

friend to

That

And

lift

the curtain

hides from

man

the mortal goal.

with glad thoughts of faith and hope

Surprise the exulting soul.

Sole source of light and hope assured,

touch thy servant's

with power,

lips

So shall he speak to us the word

Thyself dost give forever more. June,

831.

SELF-RELIANCE Henceforth,

The yoke

please

God, forever

of men's opinions.

Light-hearted as a bird, I find

him

in the

and

bottom of

I forego

I will

with God.

live

heart,

I hear continually his voice therein.

The The And

little

needle always

little

bird

this

wise Seer within

what

I never taught

I only follow,

when

October

knows

remembereth

1832.

the North,

his note.

never

teaches

I act aright.

errs.

WRITTEN And when Be

am entombed

remembered of

395

place,

man.

a single

never, though he dearly loved his race.

For

fear of

what

Of minds By

IN NAPLES

human

eyes swerved from his plan.

Heaven but

own meek and

its

incorruptible will

The days pass over me And I am still the same The aroma of my life is With

the fellowship

that each can stand against the world ?

;

gone

the flower with which

came.

1833.

WRITTEN

what we

IN NAPLES

made each following day Is the Creator of our human mould Not less than was the first the all-wise God are

are

;

Gilds a few points in every several

And And Is

each flower upon the fresh

life,

hillside.

every colored petal of each flower,

sketched and dyed, each with a

Its spot

of purple, and

So each man's

its

life shall

new

design,

streak of brown.

have

its

proper lights.

— WRITTEN AT ROME

396

And

a few joys, a few peculiar charms.

For him round-in the melancholy hours And reconcile him to the common days.

Not many men

Of close

see beauty in the fogs

low pine-woods

in a river

town

;

Yet unto me not morn's magnificence.

Nor the red rainbow of a summer eve. Nor Rome, nor joyful Paris, nor the halls Of rich men blazing hospitable light. Nor wit, nor eloquence, no, nor even the song Of any woman that is now alive,

—

Hath such

a soul, such divine influence,

Such resurrection of the happy

;

Ope

to in

me when

past,

morn

behold the

such low moist roadside, and beneath

Peep the blue

violets out of the black

Pathetic silent poets that sing to

Thine

loam,

elegy, sweet singer, sainted wife.

March, 1833.

WRITTEN AT ROME Alone

Rome. Why, Rome

Besides, yoji negd not be alone Shall have society of

great, be true,

The

its

and

own

all

is ;

lonely_tpo; the soul

rank.

the Scipios,

Catos, the wise patriots of

Rome,

)

—

;

WRITTEN AT ROME

397

Shall flock to

you and tarry by your side, And comfort you with their high company. Virtue alone It

sweet society,

keeps the key to

all

heroic hearts,

And opens you a welcome in them all. You must be like them if you desire them, Scorn

trifles

Than wine

and embrace a better aim or sleep or praise

Hunt knowledge

And

ever in the

as the lover

strife

of your

Obey

the nobler impulse

That

shall

For there

command

;

wooes

own

that

a maid,

thoughts

Rome

a senate to your side

no might

in the universe

That can contend with love. It reigns forever. Wait then, sad friend, wait in majestic peace

The

hour of heaven.

Thy

fortune's

web

Generously trust

to the beneficent

hand

now has put his world in fee To thee. He watches for thee still. His love Broods over thee, and as God lives in heaven. That

until

However long thou walkest

The

hour of heaven

1833.

shall

solitary.

come, the man appear,

WEBSTER 1831

Let Webster's

lofty face

Ever on thousands shine,

beacon

set that

Freedom's race

Might gather omens from

FROM THE

that radiant sign>

POEM

PHI BETA KAPPA 1834

III

fits

the abstemious

For Hving brows

And One

;

ill

Muse

fits

them

crown

weave

to receive

yet, if virtue abrogate the law.

portrait

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

fact or fancy

form which Nature

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; we may draw

cast in the heroic

;

mould

Of them who

rescued liberty of old

He, when the

rising storm of party roared.

;

Brought his great forehead to the council board.

There, while hot heads perplexed with

Calm

as the

morn

Seemed, when

the

manly

fears the state,

patriot sate;

at last his clarion accents broke.

the conscience of the country spoke.

;

WEBSTER

399

Not on its base Monadnoc surer stood, Than he to common sense and common good

mimic

from

;

his breast his counsel drew,

Believed the eloquent was aye the true

bridged the gulf from th' alway good and wise

that within the vision of small eyes.

Self-centred It

;

when he launched the genuine word all who heard. mouth to mountains and the sea.

shook or captivated

Ran from

And

his

burned

in noble hearts proverb

and prophecy.

1854

Why did He

all

manly

gifts in

Webster

fail ?

wrote on Nature's grandest brow, For

Sale.

INDEX OF FIRST LINES A dull uncertain brain, 389. ** A new commandment,'* said

Atom from atom yawns

smiling Muse, 297.

A patch of meadow upland, 369. A queen rejoices in her peeiB, 366. A ruddy drop of manly blood, 274. A score of airy miles will smooth, 341-

A sterner enand to the silken

troop,

384.

subtle

chain of countless rings,

Be of good cheer, brave 381.

fastly,

train

of gay and clouded

days,

349-

Fate, cannot a

Ah,

not to

man, 383.

those dreams belong

333All day the waves

&r, 339.

spirit

;

stead-

Because I was content with these poor fields, 141. Bethink, poor heart, what bitter kind of jest, 300.

Blooms the 209. Boon Nature

laurel

which belongs,

yields

each day a brag

which we now

281.

the

behold, 294. Bring me wine, but wine which never grew, 125. Bulkeley, Hunt, Willard, Hosmer, first

Meriam, Flint, 35. Burly, dozing humble-bee, 38.

But God said, 114. But if thou do thy best, 356. But Nature whistled with all her

lonely too, 396. Already blushes on thy cheek, 196.

But never yet the man was found,

assailed

the rock,

345-

Alone

And

Rome. Why, Rome

winds, 348.

as the light divides the dark,

339-

But over

330.

And Ellen, when the graybeard years, By

94-

And I behold once more, 385. And when 1 am entombed in my all

sky, 41. Around the man

the trumpets of

his

crowning ^grace,

fate,

not opdon, frugal Nature

gave, 137. By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

place, 395.

Announced by

all

329.

159.

By thoughts

I lead,

330.

the

who

seeks a noble

end, 349.

Ascending thorough 356. Askest,

just

degrees,

How long thou shalt stay ?

sings the pine-tree in the wind,

297. As sunbeams stream through

liberal

space, 48.

the drop feeds

355-

Dark

flower

of Cheshire garden,

361.

12.

Can rules or tutors educate, 273. Cast the bantling on the rocks, 295. Coin the day dawn into lines, 333.

its

fated flower,

Darlings of children and

of bard,

343Daughter of Heaven and Earth, coy Spring, 163. Daughters of Time, the hypocritic Days, 228.

INDEX OF FIRST LINES

402 Day by day

for

her darlings to her

much Day Day

she added more, 341. by day returns, 392.

gravitate,

Gifts of one

hast thou two faces, 231.

Dear

brother,

would you

know

the

391.

life,

where thy shadow

Dearest,

From thy worth and weight

falls,

Give Give Give

Go Deep

man

in the

fast his fate,

sits

Each

spot

state,

where

tulips

prank their

301.

Ere he was born, the

stars

fate,

294. Ever the Poet from the land, 292. Ever the Rock of Ages melts, 355. Every day brings a ship, 217. Every thought is public, 291.

from Heaven

to bless

;

return as well, 376.

Farewell, ye lofty spires, 258.

Flow, flow the waves hated, 287. For art, for music over-thrilled, 330. For every God, 330. For Fancy's gift, 328. For Genius made his cabin wide,

speed the stars of Thought, 283. thou to thy learned task, 292.

Gold and iron are good, 271. Good-bye, proud world I *m going

home,

Hark what, now loud, now low, the pining flute complains, 303.

Hast thou named all the out a gun ? 83.

For thought, and not praise, 328. For what need I of book or priest, ant-hill,

shunned

all

winged expands, 206.

fall

has no hands, 291. British Merlin sung, 218.

Hear what

Henceforth, please God, forever I

Her passions the shy violet, 296. Her planted eye to-day controls, 294, High was her heart, and yet was well inclined, 291. strong Genius urged to roam,

354-

His instant thought a poet spoke,

to spring, the russet acorn,

His tongue was framed to music, 284.

frozen

,334-

Hold of the Maker, not the Made,

136.

From high From the 356.

ploughed, 332. the color of his vest, 292. has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, 302.

He took He who

wine,

are

35i-

From

ye seen the caterpillar, 374.

He could condense cerulean ether, 3pHe lives not who can refrise me, 347. He planted where the deluge

Him

tread, 332.

Friends

birck vrith-

forego, 394.

place, 338.

the

Grace, Beauty and Caprice, 276.' Gravely it broods apart on joy, 375.

He who

331-

For joy and beauty planted it, 340. For Nature, true and like in every

Freedom

truths, 139.

to barrows, trays and pans, 277. if thou wilt, ambrosial flower,

Have

333Forbore

loved me, 283.

Each the herald Is who wrote, 80. Easy to match what others do, 351.

Fall, stream,

who

to love, 90.

355-

Go Go

197.

all

the stars

303.

to higher forces, 349. stores

of eldest

matter,

331-

How

much, preventing God, how

much

owe, 359.

INDEX OF FIRST LINES Alphonso, live and learn, 25. I am not poor but I am proud, 380. I am not wiser for my age, 295. I,

am the Muse who 381.

I cannot spare water or wine, 28. I do not count the hours I spend,

249. I framed his tongue

to music, 330. I grieve that better souls than mine,

327.

solitudes, 37.

In my garden three ways meet, 370. In the chamber, on the stairs, 350. In the deep heart of man a poet dwells, 372. In the suburb, in the town, 284. In the turbulent beauty, 361. In Walden wood the chickadee, 342. It fell in the ancient periods, 13.

I have an arrow that will find

mark, 376. I have no brothers and no

its

peers,

332. I

In Farsistan the violet spreads, 298. In many forms we try, 359. In May, when sea-winds pierced our

sung alway, 220.

I bear in youth and sad infirmities,

403

time to be old, 251.

Knows he who

tills

this lonely field,

363.

have trod this path a hundred times,

368. I heard or seemed to hear the chiding Sea, 242. I hung my verses in the wind, 220. I left my dreary page and sallied

Let me go where'er I will, 365, Let Webster's lofty face, 398. Like vaulters in a circus round, 331.

forth, 346. I like a church ; I like a cowl, 6. I love thy music, mellow bell, 379. I mourn upon this battle-field, 261. I rake no coffined clay, nor publish wide, 382. I reached the middle of the mount,

Long I followed happy guides, 85. Love asks nought his brother cannot

Little thinks, in the field,

yon red-

cloaked clown, 4.

give, 353his errand

Love on

bound

go,

295.

Love

scatters oil, 96.

Low and mournful be

the strain, 205.

I4SI said to heaven that glowed above, 1 see all

human

wits,

Man

was made of

social earth,

109.

Many things the garden shows, 343. May be true what I had heard, 41.

299. 296.

I serve you not, if you I follow, 82. If bright the sun, he tarries, 334.

Mine and yours, 36. Mine are the night and morning,

If curses be the wage of love, 358. If I could put my woods in song,

244. Mortal mixed of middle

clay, 33.

229. If my darling shoiJd depart, 300. If the red slayer think he slays, 195. Ill fits the abstemious Muse a crown to weave, 398. Illusions like the tints of pearl,

348

works impenetrable, 348. In an age of fops and toys, 207. In countless upward-striving waves, 283. Illusion

Nature centres

Never

298. Night-dreams wall,

No fate,

282. dream unfold,

into balls,

did sculptor's

trace

on Memory's

295. save by the victim's fault,

low, 349.

Not

in their houses stand the stars,

303.

INDEX OF FIRST LINES

404

October woods wherein, 362. O fair and stately maid, whose eyes, 95-

O O O O

pity that I pause

187.

tenderly the haughty day,

99.

well for the fortunate soul, 208.

what

are heroes, prophets,

men,

360.

what

Heaven but the

ship, 395. a mound

On On

an Arab

lay,

351. 218.

fellow-

though the

100.

the showers, 358. prince or bride no diamond stone,

sheen

all

paints with white and red the moors, 341. She walked in flowers around my

She

351.

Shines the

hope

Shun

last

age, the next with

seen, 295.

passion, fold the hands of thrift,

358. Six thankful weeks,

bravely through the sunshine and

soft

enchants, 347. Set not thy foot on graves, 29, She is gamesome and good, 226.

field,

Of all wit's uses the main one, Of Merlin wise I learned a song,

Seems,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and

let it be,

.373Slighted Minerva's learned tongue,

334_

Soft and softlier hold

301.

two days it steads not from thy grave, 302.

Once

to run

wished I iright rehearse, 198. One musician is sure, 237. Our eyeless bark sails free, 341. Over his head were the maple buds, I

^93Pale genius roves alone, 326. Parks and ponds are good by day,

342Philosophers

are

lined

with

eyes

within, 374. that by obedience grows, 360. Put in, drive home the sightless

Power

wedges, 347.

Quit the hut, frequent the palace,

291.

friends

Solar insect on the wing, 343. Some of your hurts you have cured,

294. Space is ample, east and west, 279. Spin the ball I reel, I burn, 304. Such another peerless queen, 350. Sudden gusts came full of meaning, !

310. Tell me, maiden, dost thou use, 387. TeU men what they knew before,

354Test of the poet love,

knowledge of

296.

Thanks to the morning light, That book is good, 331. That each should in his house

15. abide,

354.

That you Right upward on the road of fame, 309. Eternity, 350.

Roving, roving, as it seems, 210. Ruby wine is drunk by knaves, 272.

are hir or wise

vain,

31The April winds are magical, 255. The archangel Hope, 354. .

Roomy

me,

256.

The Asmodean feat is mine, The atom displaces all atoms

334. beside,

331-

Samson stark See yonder

Dagon's knee, 348.

leafless

trees against the

spirit, if it

hide, 86.

bard and mystic

their

The

sky, 342.

Seek not the

The

held

beggar begs by God's

350-

for

own, 357.

command,

INDEX OF FIRST LINES The brave Empedocles, defying fools, 353brook sings on, but sings in vain, 332.

The The

cold gray

lieth,

down upon the

quinces

348.

Thee, dear

405

friend, a brother soothes,

There

are beggars in Iran and Araby,

320.

There There

in all the sons of

great and

men, 393.

no small, 282.

The cup of life is not so shallow, 387. There is no architect, 128. The days pass over me, 395. They brought me rubies from the The debt is paid, 257, mine, 217. The gale that wrecked you on the They put their linger on their lips, sand^ 293.

362.

The green grass is bowing, 93. The heavy blue chain, 376. The living Heaven thy prayers spect,

The

They re-

275.

lords of

say,

Thine eyes still shined fer,

life,

the lords of

through patience, chalk,

300.

life,

for

me, though

99.

Think me not unkind and

rude.

269.

The low December

vault in

June be

high, 342.

lifted

Theme no poet gladly sung, 280. The mountain and the squirrel, 75. The Muse's hill by Fear is guarded,

84. three,

212.

The

sin,

340.

sun goes down, and with him

takes, 227.

The

Sim

set,

but set not his hope,

273.

The

he,

who,

felled

moment

sliining

by is

foes,

279.

edifice,

35Â°-

Thou

foolish

Hafiz

Say, do churls,

300. thy house, 354. seek other forms,

388.

Though loath to grieve, 76. Though love repine and reason

chafe,

296.

The rules to men made evident, 358. The sea is the road of the bold, 293. The sense of the world is short, 100. The solid, solid universe, 257. The South-wind brings, 148. The Sphinx is drowsy, 20. The sun athwart the cloud thought it

Thou shalt make Though her eyes

334-

The patient Pan, 335. The prosperous and beautiiiil, The rhyme of the poet, 123. The rocky nook with hill-tops

This This

tongue

prone to lose the way,

35'The water understands, 344. The wings of Time are black and white, 270. The word of the Lord by night, 201 The yesterday doth never smile, 253.

Thousand me, 60.

Thy

foes

strike

minstrels

hunt,

woke

within

thy enviers to

down, 303.

Thy summer

voice,

iVIusketaqujt,

248.

Thy

trivial harp will never please, 120. To and fro the Genius flies, 352. To clothe the fiery thought, 292. To transmute crime to wisdom, so to stem, 332. Trees in groves, 129.

True Brahmin, in the morning meadows wet, 292. Try the might the Muse affords, 329.

Two if

things thou shalt not long for, thou love a mind serene, 302.

INDEX OF FIRST LINES

4o6 Two

use,

travellers

well-assorted

2IO-

Unbar the door, since Opener art, 301.

thou

the

Who Who Who

knows

did

fail ?

Was

never form

lost,

and never

103. face,

what we

are

made

are

;

each

following day, 395.

crossed

with our

Champlain friends,

Well and

wisely

to Keeseville

182. said

the

Greek,

296. the books of ages paint,

all

care I, so they stand the same,

central

flowing forces,

say,

340-

When

their

Webster

fear to die,

390.

lingerest thou, pale violet, to

see the dying year, 97.

should I keep holiday, 83. seal up the avenues of ill

Wilt thou

Winters know, 225. Wise and poUte, and

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

159Wisp and

meteor

if I

nightly

drew, falling,

With beams December

planets dart,

With

the key of the secret he marches faster, 357. Would you know what joy is hid,

blooms the meadows Yes, sometimes to the sorrow-strick-

340. was born, 138.

en, 355-

success exalts thy lot, 380.

the pine tosses

its

cones, 43.

wrath and terror

changed

Jove's regal port, 358. gave thee, Beauty, 87.

Who

345all

flaunt,

When When When When

gifts

^93-

127.

What

manly

341-

have, 339.

What

all

399.

357-

love the venerable house, 223.

What

Why Why Why

275.

375,

285.

Why

Venus, when her son was

this or that?

saw the hid beginnings, 366, tell what shall did befall,

You You

shall

not be overbold, 233. not love me for what

shall

daily spends,

Your 98.

352.

picture smiles as

flrst it

smiled,

INDEX OF TITLES [The titles in small capital letters are those of the principal divisions of the work ; those in lower case are of single poems, or the subdivisions of long poems.] A. H., 291. 'ASoKpuv vc/iovrai Al&va, 297. Adirondacs, The, 182. Alcuin, From, 293. All Ben Abu Taleb, From, 30a. Alphonso of Castile, 25. Amulet, The, 98. Apology, The, 119. April, 256.

Cosmos, 366. Culture, 273.

Cupido, 257.

Demonic Love, The,

109, Day's Ration, The, 138. Days, 228. Destiny, 31. Dirge, 145.

Art, 277. Artist,

Each and All, 4. Earth, The, 341.

291.

Astraea, 80.

Earth-Song, 36.

Elements and Mottoes, Z67.

Bacchus, 125. Beauty, 275. Bell,

Ellen,

The, 379.

To, 94.

Ellen, Lines to, 387.

Berrying, 41.

Enchanter, The, 372.

Birds, 343. Blight, 139.

Epitaph, 300.

Boece, ÂŁtienne de

la,

Eros, 100, 362. Eva, To, 95.

82.

Bohemian Hymn, The, 359. Borrowing, 294. Boston, 212. Boston Hymn, read in Music Hall, January I, 1863, 201. Botanist, 292.

Excelsior, 293. Exile, The, 298, 376.

Brahma,

Fate, 197, 294. Flute, The, 303.

19.5.

284. 296. Celestial Love, The, 1 14. Channing, W. H., Ode inscribed Caritas,

Casella,

to, 76. Character, 273.

Chartist's Complaint, Circles,

The, 232.

28*.

Experience, 269. Fable, 75.

Fame, 383.

Forbearance, 83. Forerunners, 85. Forester, 292. Fragments on Nature and Life, 335. Fragments on the Poet and the Poetic Gift, 320. Freedom, 198. Friendship, 274, 300.

Climacteric, 295.

Compensation, 83, 270. Concord Hymn, 158. Concord, Ode Sung in the Hall, July 4, 1857, 199.

Town

Garden, The, 343. Garden, My, 229. Gardener, 292. Gifts, 283.

INDEX OF TITLES

4o8

Give all to Love, 90. Good-bye, 3. Good Hope, 387. Grace, 359.

Maia, 348. Maiden Speech of the i^olian Harp, 256. Manners, 276.

Guy, 33.

May-Day

and

Other

Pieces,

161. Hafiz, 296. Hafiz, From, 299.

May- Day, 163. Memory, 295.

Hamatreya, 35. Harp, The, 237. Heavens, The, 341. Heri, Cras, Hodie, 295. Hermione, 100. Heroism, 272. Holidays, 136. Horoscope, 294. House, The, 128.

Merlin, 120. Merlin's Song, 218.

Humble-Bee, The, 38.

Hush! 291.

Hymn,

Hymn

393. sung at the Second Church,

Boston, at the Ordination of Rev.

Chandler Robbins, 223.

Merops, 127. Miracle, The, 368. Mithridates, 28.

Monadnoc, 60.

Monadnoc from

afar,

361,

Mountain Grave, A, 390. Music, 365. Musketaquid, X41. My Garden, 229.

Nahant, 345. Nature, 225, 226, 281, 294. Nature in Leasts, 297. Nemesis, 196. Night in June, 346.

Ibn Jemin, From, 302. Illusions, 287. Informing Spirit, The, 282. In Memoriam, 261. Initial, Daemonic and Celestial Love, 103. Initial L.ove, The, 103. Inscription for a Well in Memory of the Martyrs of the War, 376. Insight, 360.

Ode

Intellect,

Omar Khayyam, From,

283, 375.

Northman, 293. Nun's Aspiration, The, 253. October, 362.

Ode, inscribed

W. H.

Channing,

Town

Hall, Con-

76.

Ode, sung

in the

cord, July 4, 1857, 199. to Beauty, 87.

301.

Orator, 291. J.

W., To,

29.

Last Farewell, The, 258. Letter, Letters,

A, 391. 217.

Pan, 360. Park, The, 84. Past,

The, 257.

Pericles,

296.

Life, 349.

Peter's Field, 363.

Limits, 375. Lines by EUen Louise Tucker, 96. Lines to Ellen, 387.

Phi Beta Kappa Poem, From the, Philosopher, 374.

Love, 29;.

Poems of Youth and Early Man-

Love and Thought, 210.

398, 399-

hood, 377.

INDEX OF TITLES Poet, 292. Poet, The, 309. Politics,

271.

Power, 284, 295. Prayer, 380. Problem, Tlie, 6. Promise, 283.

To-Day, 382.

Prudence, 280.

Quatrains

AND

Translations,

289.

Rex, 357. Rhea, To, 18. Rhodora, The, 37.

To Ellen at the South, To Ellen, 94. To Eva, 95. To J. W., 59. To Rhea, 9. To the Shah, 303,

Two

Romany

Una, 210.

The, 227.

Rubies, 217.

93.

Transition, 342. Translations, 298.

Riches, 374. River, The, 385. Girl,

409

Terminus, 251. Test, The, 220. Thine Eyes still Shined, 99. Thought, 380. Threnody, 148. Titmouse, The, 233-

Rivers, 248.

Unity, 279. Uriel, 13.

H., 293.

Saadi, 129.

Violet,

Sacrifice,

Visit,

296. Seashore, 242. Security, 388. September, 361. Shah, To the, 303, Shalcspeare, 296.

Snow-Storm, The, 41. Solution, 220.

Song of Nature, 244. Song of Seyd Nimetollah of Kuhistan, 304. Sonnet of Michel Angelo Buonarotti, 298.

Sphinx, The, 20. Spiritual

Laws, 275.

Summons, The, 384. Sunrise, 345.

Sursum Corda, 86. "Suum Cuique," 357.

The, 97. The, 12.

Voluntaries, 205.

Waldeinsamkeit, 249, Walden, 370. Walk, The, 366. Water, 344. WaterfaU, The, 369. Wealth, 285. Webster, 398.

Woodnotes, 43. World-Soul, The, 15. Worship, 279. Written at Rome, 1883, 396. Written in a Volume of Goethe, 373, Written in Naples, March, 1883, 395-

Xenophanes, 137.