Haughty thought be far from me;Tones of penitence and pain,Moanings of the tropic sea;Low and tender in the cellWhere a captive sits in chains,Crooning ditties treasured wellFrom his Afric’s torrid plains.Sole estate his sire bequeathed–Hapless sire to hapless son–Was the wailing song he breathed,And his chain when life was done.What his fault, or what his…
Maketh all things softly smile,Painteth pictures mile on mile,Holds a cup with cowslip-wreaths,Whence a smokeless incense breathes.Girls are peeling the sweet willow,Poplar white, and Gilead-tree,And troops of boysShouting with whoop and hilloa,And hip, hip three times three.The air is full of whistlings bland;What was that I heardOut of the hazy land?Harp of the wind, or…
I cannot leaveMy buried thoughtFor the priest’s cant,Or statesman’s rant.If I refuseMy study for their politique,Which at the best is trick,The angry musePuts confusion in my brain.But who is he that pratesOf the culture of mankind,Of better arts and life?Go, blind worm, go,Behold the famous StatesHarrying MexicoWith rifle and with knife.Or who, with accent bolder,Dare…
The evil time’s sole patriot,I cannot leaveMy honeyed thoughtFor the priest’s cant,Or statesman’s rant.If I refuseMy study for their politic,Which at the best is trick,The angry MusePuts confusion in my brain.But who is he that pratesOf the culture of mankind,Of better arts and life?Go, blindworm, go,Behold the famous StatesHarrying MexicoWith rifle and with knife!Or who,…
Her ear is heavy,She broods on the world.‘Who’ll tell me my secret,The ages have kept?–I awaited the seer,While they slumbered and slept;–‘The fate of the man-child;The meaning of man;Known fruit of the unknown;Daedalian 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…
Looked eastward from the farms,And twice each day the flowing seaTook 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 intentThey did what freeman can,Their dauntless ways did all men praise,The merchant was a man.The world was made for honest trade,-To plant…
Here once the embattled farmers stoodAnd fired the shot heard round the world.The foe long since in silence slept;Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;And Time the ruined bridge has sweptDown the dark stream which seaward creeps.On this green bank, by this soft stream,We set today a votive stone;That memory may their deed redeem,When, like our sires,…
Teach me I am forgotten by the deadAnd that the dead is by herself forgotAnd I no longer would keep terms with me.I would not murder, steal, or fornicate,Nor with ambition break the peace of townsBut I would bury my ambitionThe hope & action of my sovereign soulIn miserable ruin. Nor a hopeShould ever make…
Strong meat of simple truthIf thou durst my words compareWith what thou thinkest in my soul’s free youth,Then take this fact unto thy soul,—–God dwells in thee.It is no metaphor nor parable,It is unknown to thousands, and to thee;Yet there is God.IIHe is in thy world,But thy world knows him not.He is the mighty HeartFrom…
He never, though he dearly loved his race,For fear of human eyes swerved from his plan.OH what is Heaven but the fellowshipOf minds that each can stand against the worldBy its own meek and incorruptible will?THE days pass over meAnd I am still the same;The aroma of my life is goneWith the flower with which…
