As i sit on a log here in the woods among the clean-faced beeches,
The trunks of the trees seem to me like the pipes of a mighty organ,
Thrilling my soul with wave on wave of the harmonies of the universal anthem—
The grand, divine, eonic “I am” chorus.
The red squirrel scolding in yonder hickory tree,
The flock of blackbirds chattering in council...
I Have fancied, sometimes, the Bethel-bent beam,
That trembled to earth in the patriarch’s dream,
Was a ladder of song in that wilderness rest,
From the pillar of stone to the blue of the blest,
And the angels descending to dwell with us here,
“Old Hundred,” and “Corinth,” and “China,” and “Mear.”
“Let us sing to God’s praise,” the minister...
O, May I join the choir invisible
Of those immortal dead who live again
In minds made better by their presence; live
In pulses stirred to generosity,
In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn
Of miserable aims that end with self,
In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars,
And with their mild persistence urge men’s minds
To...
