University of Virginia Library


228

PEACE. (1832.)

I have found Peace in the bright earth
And in the sunny sky:
By the low voice of summer seas,
And where streams murmur by;
I find it in the quiet tone
Of voices that I love:
By the flickering of a twilight fire,
And in a leafless grove;
I find it in the silent flow
Of solitary thought:
In calm half-meditated dreams,
And reasoning self-taught;
But seldom have I found such peace,
As in the soul's deep joy
Of passing onward free from harm
Through every day's employ.
If gems we seek, we only tire,
And lift our hopes too high;
The constant flowers that line our way
Alone can satisfy.