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Poems

Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)

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I POEMS
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II MAY-DAY AND OTHER PIECES
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III ELEMENTS AND MOTTOES
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IV QUATRAINS AND TRANSLATIONS
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V APPENDIX
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THE POET
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FRAGMENTS ON THE POET AND THE POETIC GIFT
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FRAGMENTS ON NATURE AND LIFE
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NATURE
  
[The patient Pan]
  
[Come search the wood for flowers]
  
[Where the fungus broad and red]
  
[For Nature, true and like in every place]
  
[What all the books of ages paint, I have]
  
[But never yet the man was found]
  
[Atom from atom yawns as far]
  
[When all their blooms the meadows flaunt]
  
[The sun athwart the cloud thought it no sin]
  
[For joy and beauty planted it]
  
[What central flowing forces, say]
  
[Day by day for her darlings to her much she added more]
  
[She paints with white and red the moors]
  
[A score of airy miles will smooth]
  
THE EARTH
  
THE HEAVENS
  
TRANSITION
  
[Parks and ponds are good by day]
  
[In Walden wood the chickadee]
  
[The low December vault in June be lifted high]
  
THE GARDEN
  
[Solar insect on the wing]
  
BIRDS
  
WATER
  
NAHANT
  
SUNRISE
  
NIGHT IN JUNE
  
[He lives not who can refuse me]
  
[Seems, though the soft sheen all enchants]
  
[Put in, drive home the sightless wedges]
  
MAIA
  
[Illusions like the tints of pearl]
  
[The cold gray down upon the quinces lieth]
  
[Samson stark, at Dagon's knee]
  
[But Nature whistled with all her winds]
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LIFE
  
THE BOHEMIAN HYMN
  
GRACE
  
INSIGHT
  
PAN
  
MONADNOC FROM AFAR
  
SEPTEMBER
  
EROS
  
OCTOBER
  
PETER'S FIELD
  
MUSIC
  
THE WALK
  
COSMOS
  
THE MIRACLE
  
THE WATERFALL
  
WALDEN
  
THE ENCHANTER
  
WRITTEN IN A VOLUME OF GOETHE
  
RICHES
  
PHILOSOPHER
  
INTELLECT
  
LIMITS
  
INSCRIPTION FOR A WELL IN MEMORY OF THE MARTYRS OF THE WAR
  
THE EXILE
  
[I have an arrow that will find its mark]
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VI POEMS OF YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD 1823–1834

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BIRDS

Darlings of children and of bard,
Perfect kinds by vice unmarred,
All of worth and beauty set
Gems in Nature's cabinet;
These the fables she esteems
Reality most like to dreams.
344

Welcome back, you little nations,
Far-travelled in the south plantations;
Bring your music and rhythmic flight,
Your colors for our eyes' delight:
Freely nestle in our roof,
Weave your chamber weatherproof;
And your enchanting manners bring
And your autumnal gathering.
Exchange in conclave general
Greetings kind to each and all,
Conscious each of duty done
And unstainèd as the sun.
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