University of Virginia Library

Canto Third.

The Hero.

Long, raven hair, complexion dark,
And coal-black eyes had Aaron Clark.
But, ah! in vain I court the Muses—
My stubborn pen the task refuses
Of giving thus the inventory
Of minor parts of manly glory.
When one describes the female fair
One can extol the wavy hair,
The cherry lip, the rosy cheek,
The mild blue eye, and spirit meek—
But of Creation's Lord, absurd
Are such accounts whenever heard.
We speak of moral worth, the soul,
The mind, the intellectual whole.
Therefore, of Aaron Clark I'll scan
The inner, not the outer man.
In this dull world you seldom find
A counterpart of his great mind.
His soul soared far beyond the skies;
He scorned the learning of Earth's wise;
But to himself he kept as fast
His knowledge as did Hudibras
His wit. He craved no useless store
Of scientific learned lore,
That might his genius freedom cramp.
He wasted not the “midnight lamp”
In poring over musty scrolls
And hieroglyphic parchment rolls.
He joined not his unsullied name
With those of candidates for fame.
On Earth's poor praise, he aye looked down,
And laughed to scorn her weak renown.
He squandered not his precious time
With Irving's prose or Byron's rhyme;
Nor studied all the days of youth,
To bring to light some abstract truth.
He'd sit a year, beneath a tree,
And, every hour, an apple see
Fall to the ground without cessation,
And never think of gravitation.
In mathematics, well he knew
That one and one sometimes make two.
Moreover, he could read, and had
Once gone to school, when quite a lad.
He there began, with bashful fear,
His geographical career.
He stayed from nine o'clock till noon,
And learned a page of “Malte Brun,”
Besides these verses, which, I trow,
He well remembers, even now.
“The world is round, and, like a ball,
Seems swinging in the air.
The sky extends around it all,
And stars are shining there.
Water and land upon the face
Of this round globe we see.
The land is man's safe dwelling place,
But ships sail on the sea.”
At noon he closed the hated book,
And gave the “last, long, lingering look”
At pupil, ferrule, desk, and master,
And than he came he went much faster;
Leaped gladly through the open door,
And never crossed its threshold more.