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(CHAIN-ROOTED AND FLEET-FOOTED.)
River and tree-top and hill
Fell talking, as neighbors oft will.
“O would you could see”, said the tree,
“The many brave things that I see!
Fond lovers, the moments beguiling;
Fair homes, with their weeping and smiling;
The clouds in their nearness and distance,
The stars in their stately existence;
The woodland, the grainland, the lea:
O would you might see what I see!”
Fell talking, as neighbors oft will.
“O would you could see”, said the tree,
“The many brave things that I see!
Fond lovers, the moments beguiling;
Fair homes, with their weeping and smiling;
The clouds in their nearness and distance,
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The woodland, the grainland, the lea:
O would you might see what I see!”
As neighbors with neighbors when chaffing,
The hill said, in tones that were laughing,
“Climb on my broad shoulder, O tree,
And see the great things that I see!
Swift commerce the vastnesses riding,
Great cities in splendor abiding,
Steam chariots with lanterns ne'er dimming,
Iron fish through the ocean-waves swimming:
O river, rise grandly to me,
And see all the things that I see!”
The hill said, in tones that were laughing,
“Climb on my broad shoulder, O tree,
And see the great things that I see!
Swift commerce the vastnesses riding,
Great cities in splendor abiding,
Steam chariots with lanterns ne'er dimming,
Iron fish through the ocean-waves swimming:
O river, rise grandly to me,
And see all the things that I see!”
The river its whisp'ring and sighing
Forgot, for a moment, replying:
“O tree-top and hill-top chain-rooted,
Tower not o'er the swift many-footed!
In haunts you must know but in seeing—
My soul has had knowledge by being;
I march, with my ne'er ceasing motion,
Through earth and through air and through ocean.
You never can see what I see,
O chain-footed hill-top and tree!”
Forgot, for a moment, replying:
“O tree-top and hill-top chain-rooted,
Tower not o'er the swift many-footed!
In haunts you must know but in seeing—
My soul has had knowledge by being;
I march, with my ne'er ceasing motion,
Through earth and through air and through ocean.
You never can see what I see,
O chain-footed hill-top and tree!”
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