 | Collected poems of Henry Thoreau |  |
213
SPEECH OF A SAXON EALDERMAN
This life, O king, of men on earth,
Compared with that unknown,
Gave to a pleasant fancy birth,
Close by thy throne.
Compared with that unknown,
Gave to a pleasant fancy birth,
Close by thy throne.
The hall is swept,
The table set,
And anxious guests are there,
With shrinking forms,
For wintry storms
Go howling through the air.
The table set,
And anxious guests are there,
With shrinking forms,
For wintry storms
Go howling through the air.
Thy noble Ealderman and Thegnes
A cheerful blaze prepare,
And while without it snows and rains
Are merry there.
A cheerful blaze prepare,
And while without it snows and rains
Are merry there.
And presently a sparrow comes
And flutters through the hall,
It barely picks the scattered crumbs,
And that is all.
And flutters through the hall,
It barely picks the scattered crumbs,
And that is all.
The while the hall it flies about,
It laughs the cold to scorn,
But soon it goes a window out,
And summer's gone.
It laughs the cold to scorn,
But soon it goes a window out,
And summer's gone.
214
So is it with this life of men,
Thus do our moments fly,
We flutter round the hall, and then
We pine, and die.
Thus do our moments fly,
We flutter round the hall, and then
We pine, and die.
If this new lore can tell us where
We go when summer's gone,
Or how this soul of ours did fare
Ere we were born,
We go when summer's gone,
Or how this soul of ours did fare
Ere we were born,
If it do this, then should we try
To live as may befit,
So I, for one, gladly do cry,
Welcome be it!
To live as may befit,
So I, for one, gladly do cry,
Welcome be it!
| Collected poems of Henry Thoreau | |