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 | Miami Woods : a golden wedding and other poems |  |
Turn, thou whose ears have drunk the jarring sounds
Of wrangling tongues, in crowded thoroughfares
And busy marts—or thou whose eyes have looked
On the red battle-field, and there beheld
The quivering limb, the writhing countenance,
The blackened and the putrifying corpse—
Turn from all this, which liker is to hell
Than to aught else, and with thy soul commune,
Here in the quiet of Miami Woods.
—Look out upon the bordering fields, where spreads
The yellow wheat, and waves the tasseling corn;
Look in, where the great heart of Nature beats
Steadily, peacefully, ever full of love;
Look down, at the sweet flowers that clothe the ground,
Blooming for all, and giving thankfully
Their perfume for the light that visits them;
Look up, at the blue heavens that bend o'er all,
Serene, and beautiful, and grand, and good:
Then, if thou wonderest, ask this little child,
Whose soul is awed to silence, what there is
In all this scene, that thou should'st thus be call'd
From the great world where beats the human heart
In all its power, and she will answer—“God,
And God's own peace, and majesty, and strength!”
—In such a Presence, bend thy stubborn neck,
And stand uncovered. God, not man, is here;
Nature, not art; dissimulation not,
But frankness; falsehood never, only truth.
And if thou go not hence a better man,
Pray fervently for help—for thou hast need.
Of wrangling tongues, in crowded thoroughfares
And busy marts—or thou whose eyes have looked
On the red battle-field, and there beheld
The quivering limb, the writhing countenance,
The blackened and the putrifying corpse—
Turn from all this, which liker is to hell
Than to aught else, and with thy soul commune,
Here in the quiet of Miami Woods.
—Look out upon the bordering fields, where spreads
The yellow wheat, and waves the tasseling corn;
Look in, where the great heart of Nature beats
Steadily, peacefully, ever full of love;
Look down, at the sweet flowers that clothe the ground,
32
Their perfume for the light that visits them;
Look up, at the blue heavens that bend o'er all,
Serene, and beautiful, and grand, and good:
Then, if thou wonderest, ask this little child,
Whose soul is awed to silence, what there is
In all this scene, that thou should'st thus be call'd
From the great world where beats the human heart
In all its power, and she will answer—“God,
And God's own peace, and majesty, and strength!”
—In such a Presence, bend thy stubborn neck,
And stand uncovered. God, not man, is here;
Nature, not art; dissimulation not,
But frankness; falsehood never, only truth.
And if thou go not hence a better man,
Pray fervently for help—for thou hast need.
| Miami Woods : a golden wedding and other poems | |