University of Virginia Library

RISE, O days, from your fathomless deeps, till you loftier      and fiercer sweep!
Long for my soul, hungering gymnastic, I devour'd      what the earth gave me;
Long I roam'd the woods of the north — long I watch'd      Niagara pouring;
I travel'd the prairies over, and slept on their breast — I      cross'd the Nevadas, I cross'd the plateaus;
I ascended the towering rocks along the Pacific, I sail'd      out to sea;
I sail'd through the storm, I was refresh'd by the storm;
I watch'd with joy the threatening maws of the waves;
I mark'd the white combs where they career'd so high,      curling over;
I heard the wind piping, I saw the black clouds;
Saw from below what arose and mounted, (O superb! O      wild as my heart, and powerful!)
Heard the continuous thunder, as it bellow'd after the      lightning;
Noted the slender and jagged threads of lightning, as      sudden and fast amid the din they chased each      other across the sky;
— These, and such as these, I, elate, saw — saw with      wonder, yet pensive and masterful;
All the menacing might of the globe uprisen around me;
Yet there with my soul I fed — I fed content, super-     cilious.