He was the heart of all the scene;
On him the sun looked more serene;
To hill and cloud his face was known,-
It seemed the likeness of their own;
They knew by secret sympathy
The public child of earth and sky.
"You ask," he said, "what guide
Me through trackless thickets led,

Through thick-stemmed woodlands rough and wide.

I found the water's bed.

The watercourses were my guide;

I traveled grateful by their side,

Or through their channel dry;
They led me through the thicket damp,

Through brake and fern, the beavers' camp,
Through beds of granite cut my road,

And their resistless friendship showed:
The falling waters led me,

The foodful waters fed me,

And brought me to the lowest land,
Unerring to the ocean sand.

The moss upon the forest bark

Was pole-star when the night was dark;
The purple berries in the wood

Supplied me necessary food;
For Nature ever faithful is
To such as trust her faithfulness.
When the forest shall mislead me,
When the night and morning lie,
When sea and land refuse to feed me,
"Twill be time enough to die;
Then will yet my mother yield
A pillow in her greenest field,
Nor the June flowers scorn to cover
The clay of their departed lover."

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The crimson morning flames into
The fopperies of the town.
Within, without the idle earth,
Stars weave eternal rings;
The sun himself shines heartily,
And shares the joy he brings.

And what if Trade sow cities

Like shells along the shore,
And thatch with towns the prairie broad
With railways ironed o'er?
They are but sailing foam-bells

Along Thought's causing stream, And take their shape and sun-color From him that sends the dream.

For Destiny does not like

To yield to men the helm;
And shoots his thought by hidden nerves
Throughout the solid realm.

The patient Dæmon sits,
With roses and a shroud;
He has his way, and deals his gifts,—
But ours is not allowed.

He is no churl nor trifler,
And his viceroy is none,-
Love-without-weakness,-

Of Genius sire and son.
And his will is not thwarted;
The seeds of land and sea
Are the atoms of his body bright,
And his behest obey.