 | Poems of Charles Warren Stoddard . |  |
34
ALMA NATURA
Come from the vales of grief,
O Pilgrim, I implore thee! Let me tell
How I have sought and found my full relief;
For Nature loves us well.
O Pilgrim, I implore thee! Let me tell
How I have sought and found my full relief;
For Nature loves us well.
Look at thine own disgrace,
O foolish Pilgrim, fainting in thy soul!
Let but the sweet air breathe upon thy face
And it shall make thee whole.
O foolish Pilgrim, fainting in thy soul!
Let but the sweet air breathe upon thy face
And it shall make thee whole.
Bare thy close-shodden feet;
Put off thy raiment; naked, free, and glad,
Walk with the shining angels Light and Heat,
For thou art fitly clad.
Put off thy raiment; naked, free, and glad,
Walk with the shining angels Light and Heat,
For thou art fitly clad.
Bathe in the running tide;
O seek it with a lover's heart, for lo!
Thou shalt arise from out it purified,
And whiter than the snow.
O seek it with a lover's heart, for lo!
Thou shalt arise from out it purified,
And whiter than the snow.
35
Pause in the orchard path;
Pluck from the bough the fruit's untainted flesh,
Eat freely, for a copious store it hath:
Then live and love afresh.
Pluck from the bough the fruit's untainted flesh,
Eat freely, for a copious store it hath:
Then live and love afresh.
Seek thou the ocean's flood,
And as the sun glows on the crystal brink
Seize thou the golden chalice of his blood
And thirsting, deeply drink.
And as the sun glows on the crystal brink
Seize thou the golden chalice of his blood
And thirsting, deeply drink.
Through Nature art thou blest:
She clothes thee, and she feeds thee, and she gives
Drink to the lips that thirst, and perfect rest
To every one that lives.
She clothes thee, and she feeds thee, and she gives
Drink to the lips that thirst, and perfect rest
To every one that lives.
| Poems of Charles Warren Stoddard . | |