 | Miami Woods : a golden wedding and other poems |  |
172
Proem.
God's holy angels, when the Earth was new,
Ere yet green plant or golden grain had birth,
O'er the warm slopes and sunny valleys threw
The germs of vegetation; and the earth,
As lapsed the seasons of the primal year,
Grew fair and fruitful—yielding, for all time,
The sustenance of Life—afar and near,
On every continent, in every clime.
No quick return was part of this great plan:
But thus the seed was sown for all the Years of Man.
Ere yet green plant or golden grain had birth,
O'er the warm slopes and sunny valleys threw
The germs of vegetation; and the earth,
As lapsed the seasons of the primal year,
Grew fair and fruitful—yielding, for all time,
The sustenance of Life—afar and near,
On every continent, in every clime.
No quick return was part of this great plan:
But thus the seed was sown for all the Years of Man.
And, by this high and bright example taught,
Would I thus labor in my lowly way—
Sowing the broad and shining fields of Thought
With seed that shall spring up through many a day:
Not seeking quick returns, in wealth or fame;
Not darkening counsel with unmeaning words,
Nor dazzling with a phosphorescent flame—
But with a voice as cheerful as a bird's,
And with a hand and heart unaw'd by strife,
Singing and sowing seed for all the Years of Life.
Would I thus labor in my lowly way—
Sowing the broad and shining fields of Thought
With seed that shall spring up through many a day:
Not seeking quick returns, in wealth or fame;
Not darkening counsel with unmeaning words,
Nor dazzling with a phosphorescent flame—
But with a voice as cheerful as a bird's,
And with a hand and heart unaw'd by strife,
Singing and sowing seed for all the Years of Life.
| Miami Woods : a golden wedding and other poems | |