_Ex Oriente Lux; ex
Occidente
Frux_, 221.
Thoreau - Excursions and Poems
"
"Ah, my good sir,
I know not those ways;
Little my knowledge,
Tho' many my days.
When I have slumbered,
I have heard sounds
As of travelers passing
These my grounds.
"'T was a sweet music
Wafted them by,
I could not tell
If afar off or nigh.
Unless I dreamed it,
This was of yore:
I never told it
To mortal before,
Never remembered
But in my dreams
What to me waking
A miracle seems. "
THE DEPARTURE
In this roadstead I have ridden,
In this covert I have hidden;
Friendly thoughts were cliffs to me,
And I hid beneath their lee.
This true people took the stranger,
And warm-hearted housed the ranger;
They received their roving guest,
And have fed him with the best;
Whatsoe'er the land afforded
To the stranger's wish accorded;
Shook the olive, stripped the vine,
And expressed the strengthening wine.
And by night they did spread o'er him
What by day they spread before him;--
That good-will which was repast
Was his covering at last.
The stranger moored him to their pier
Without anxiety or fear;
By day he walked the sloping land,
By night the gentle heavens he scanned.
When first his bark stood inland
To the coast of that far Finland,
Sweet-watered brooks came tumbling to the shore
The weary mariner to restore.
And still he stayed from day to day
If he their kindness might repay;
But more and more
The sullen waves came rolling toward the shore.
And still the more the stranger waited,
The less his argosy was freighted,
And still the more he stayed,
The less his debt was paid.
So he unfurled his shrouded mast
To receive the fragrant blast;
And that sane refreshing gale
Which had wooed him to remain
Again and again,
It was that filled his sail
And drove him to the main.
All day the low-hung clouds
Dropt tears into the sea;
And the wind amid the shrouds
Sighed plaintively.
INDEPENDENCE[15]
My life more civil is and free
Than any civil polity.
Ye princes, keep your realms
And circumscribed power,
Not wide as are my dreams,
Nor rich as is this hour.
What can ye give which I have not?
What can ye take which I have got?
Can ye defend the dangerless?
Can ye inherit nakedness?
To all true wants Time's ear is deaf,
Penurious states lend no relief
Out of their pelf:
But a free soul--thank God--
Can help itself.
Be sure your fate
Doth keep apart its state,
Not linked with any band,
Even the noblest of the land;
In tented fields with cloth of gold
No place doth hold,
But is more chivalrous than they are,
And sigheth for a nobler war;
A finer strain its trumpet sings,
A brighter gleam its armor flings.
The life that I aspire to live
No man proposeth me;
No trade upon the street[16]
Wears its emblazonry.
DING DONG[17]
When the world grows old by the chimney-side
Then forth to the youngling nooks I glide,
Where over the water and over the land
The bells are booming on either hand.
Now up they go ding, then down again dong,
And awhile they ring to the same old song,
For the metal goes round at a single bound,
A-cutting the fields with its measured sound,
While the tired tongue falls with a lengthened boom
As solemn and loud as the crack of doom.
Then changed is their measure to tone upon tone,
And seldom it is that one sound comes alone,
For they ring out their peals in a mingled throng,
And the breezes waft the loud ding-dong along.
When the echo hath reached me in this lone vale,
I am straightway a hero in coat of mail,
I tug at my belt and I march on my post,
And feel myself more than a match for a host.
OMNIPRESENCE
Who equaleth the coward's haste,
And still inspires the faintest heart;
Whose lofty fame is not disgraced,
Though it assume the lowest part.
INSPIRATION
If thou wilt but stand by my ear,
When through the field thy anthem's rung,
When that is done I will not fear
But the same power will abet my tongue.
MISSION
I've searched my faculties around,
To learn why life to me was lent:
I will attend the faintest sound,
And then declare to man what God hath meant.
DELAY
No generous action can delay
Or thwart our higher, steadier aims;
But if sincere and true are they,
It will arouse our sight, and nerve our frames.
PRAYER
Great God! I ask thee for no meaner pelf
Than that I may not disappoint myself;
That in my action I may soar as high
As I can now discern with this clear eye;
And next in value, which thy kindness lends,
That I may greatly disappoint my friends,
Howe'er they think or hope it that may be,
They may not dream how thou 'st distinguished me;
That my weak hand may equal my firm faith,
And my life practice more than my tongue saith;
That my low conduct may not show,
Nor my relenting lines,
That I thy purpose did not know,
Or overrated thy designs.
FOOTNOTES:
[8] [Eighteen lines of this poem appear in _Week_, pp. 181, 182, 351,
372. ]
[9] ["Suggested by the print of Guido's 'Aurora' sent by Mrs. Carlyle
as a wedding gift to Mrs. Emerson. " (Note in _Poems of Nature_. )]
[10] [Five stanzas of this poem appear in _Week_, pp. 46, 47. ]
[11] [The last four lines appear in _Week_, p. 54. ]
[12] ["The first four of these stanzas (unnamed by Thoreau) were
published in the Boston _Commonwealth_ in 1863, under the title of
'The Soul's Season,' the remainder as 'The Fall of the Leaf. ' There
can be little doubt that they are parts of one complete poem. " (Note
in _Poems of Nature_. )]
[13] [See p. 120. ]
[14] ["These stanzas formed part of the original manuscript of the
essay on 'A Winter Walk,' but were excluded by Emerson. " (Note in
_Poems of Nature_. )]
[15] ["First printed in full in the Boston _Commonwealth_, October 30,
1863. The last fourteen lines had appeared in _The Dial_ under the
title of 'The Black Knight,' and are so reprinted in the Riverside
Edition. " (Note in _Poems of Nature_. )]
[16] [In _The Dial_ this line reads, "Only the promise of my heart. "]
[17] ["A copy of this hitherto unpublished poem has been kindly
furnished by Miss A. J. Ward. " (Note in _Poems of Nature_. )]
A LIST OF THE POEMS AND BITS OF VERSE SCATTERED AMONG THOREAU'S PROSE
WRITINGS EXCLUSIVE OF THE JOURNAL
* * * * *
A WEEK ON THE CONCORD AND MERRIMACK RIVERS
"The respectable folks" PAGE 7
"Ah, 't is in vain the peaceful din" 15
"But since we sailed" 16
"Here then an aged shepherd dwelt" 16
"On Ponkawtasset, since we took our way" 16
"Who sleeps by day and walks by night" 41
"An early unconverted Saint" 42
"Low in the eastern sky" (TO THE MAIDEN IN THE EAST) 46
"Dong, sounds the brass in the East" 50
"Greece, who am I that should remember thee" 54
"Some tumultuous little rill" 62
"I make ye an offer" 69
"Conscience is instinct bred in the house" (CONSCIENCE) 75
"Such water do the gods distill" 86
"That Phaeton of our day" 103
"Then spend an age in whetting thy desire" 111
"Though all the fates should prove unkind" 151
"With frontier strength ye stand your ground" (MOUNTAINS) 170
"The western wind came lumbering in" 180
"Then idle Time ran gadding by" 181
"Now chiefly is my natal hour" 182
RUMORS FROM AN AEOLIAN HARP 184
"Away! away! away! away! " 186
"Ply the oars! away! away! " (RIVER SONG, part) 188
"Since that first 'Away! away! '" (RIVER SONG, part) 200
"Low-anchored cloud" (MIST) 201
"Man's little acts are grand" 224
"Our uninquiring corpses lie more low" 227
"The waves slowly beat" 229
"Woof of the sun, ethereal gauze" (HAZE) 229
"Where gleaming fields of haze" 234
TRANSLATIONS FROM ANACREON 240
"Thus, perchance, the Indian hunter" (BOAT SONG) 247
"My life is like a stroll upon the beach" (THE FISHER'S BOY) 255
"This is my Carnac, whose unmeasured dome" 267
"True kindness is a pure divine affinity" 275
"Lately, alas, I knew a gentle boy" (SYMPATHY) 276
THE ATLANTIDES 278
"My love must be as free" (FREE LOVE) 297
"The Good how can we trust? " 298
"Nature doth have her dawn each day" 302
"Let such pure hate still underprop" (FRIENDSHIP) 305
"Men are by birth equal in this, that given" 311
The Inward Morning 313
"My books I'd fain cast off, I cannot read" (THE SUMMER RAIN) 320
"My life has been the poem I would have writ" 365
THE POET'S DELAY 366
"I hearing get, who had but ears" 372
"Men dig and dive but cannot my wealth spend" 373
"Salmon Brook" 375
"Oft, as I turn me on my pillow o'er" 384
"I am the autumnal sun" (NATURE'S CHILD) 404
"A finer race and finer fed" 407
"I am a parcel of vain strivings tied" (SIC VITA) 410
"All things are current found" 415
WALDEN
"Men say they know many things" 46
"What's the railroad to me? " 135
"It is no dream of mine" 215
"Light-winged Smoke, Icarian bird" (SMOKE) 279
THE MAINE WOODS
"Die and be buried who will" 88
EXCURSIONS
"Within the circuit of this plodding life" (WINTER MEMORIES) 103
"We pronounce thee happy, Cicada" (from Anacreon) 108
"His steady sails he never furls" 109
RETURN OF SPRING (from Anacreon) 109
"Each summer sound" 112
"Sometimes I hear the veery's clarion" 112
"Upon the lofty elm tree sprays" (THE VIREO) 112
"Thou dusky spirit of the wood" (THE CROW) 113
"I see the civil sun drying earth's tears" (THE THAW, part) 120
"The river swelleth more and more" (A RIVER SCENE) 120
"The needles of the pine" 133
"With frontier strength ye stand your ground" (MOUNTAINS) 133
"Not unconcerned Wachusett rears his head" 144
"The sluggish smoke curls up from some deep dell" (SMOKE
IN WINTER) 165
"When Winter fringes every bough" (STANZAS WRITTEN AT
WALDEN) 176
THE OLD MARLBOROUGH ROAD 214
"In two years' time 't had thus" 303
INDEX
Achilles, The Youth of, translation, 385.
Acre, an, as long measure, 60.
Acton (Mass. ), 136.
AEschylus, The Prometheus Bound of, translation, 337-375.
AEsculapius, translation, 380.
Agriculture, the task of Americans, 229-231.
Ajax, The Treatment of, translation, 387.
Alphonse, Jean, and Falls of Montmorenci, 38, 39;
quoted, 91.
America, superiorities of, 220-224.
American, money in Quebec, 24;
the, and government, 82, 83.
Amphiaraus, The Death of, translation, 387.
Anacreon, quoted, 108, 109, 110.
Andropogons, or beard-grasses, 225-258.
Ange Gardien Parish, 42;
church of, 46.
Angler's Souvenir, the, 119.
Apollo, translation, 383.
Apple, history of the tree, 290-298;
the wild, 299, 300;
the crab-, 301, 302;
growth of the wild, 302-308;
cropped by cattle, 303-307;
the fruit and flavor of the, 308-314;
beauty of the, 314, 315;
naming of the, 315-317;
last gleaning of the, 317-319;
the frozen-thawed, 319, 320;
dying out of the wild, 321, 322.
Apple-howling, 298.
Arpent, the, 60.
Ashburnham (Mass. ), 3;
with a better house than any in Canada, 100.
Ash trees, 6.
Assabet, the, 136.
Audubon, John James, reading, 103; 109, note; 112, note.
Aurora of Guido, The, verse, 399.
Autumn foliage, brightness of, 249-252.
AUTUMNAL TINTS, 249-289.
Bartram, William, quoted, 199.
Bathing feet in brooks, 140.
Beard-grasses, andropogons or, 255-258.
Beauport (Que. ), and _le Chemin de_, 30;
getting lodgings in, 35-38;
church in, 69;
Seigniory of, 96.
Beaupre, Seigniory of the Cote de, 41.
"Behold, how spring appearing," verse, 109.
Bellows Falls (Vt. ), 5.
Birch, yellow, 6.
Birds and mountains, 149.
Bittern, booming of the, 111.
Black Knight, The, verse, 415, note.
Blueberries, and milk, supper of, 144.
Bluebird, the, 110.
Bobolink, the, 113.
Bodaeus, quoted, 317.
Bolton (Mass. ), 137.
Bonsecours Market (Montreal), 11.
Books on natural history, reading, 103-105.
Boots, Canadian, 51.
Boston (Mass. ), 3, 7, 9.
Boucher, quoted, 91.
Boucherville (Que. ), 20.
Bouchette, Topographical Description of the Canadas, quoted, 41,
42, 63, 64, 89, 92, 94, 95.
Bout de l'Isle, 20.
Brand's Popular Antiquities quoted, 297, 298.
Bravery of science, the, 106, 107.
"Brother, where dost thou dwell? " verse, 403.
Burlington (Vt. ), 7, 99.
Burton, Sir Richard Francis, 228.
Butternut tree, 6.
Cabs, Montreal, 18;
Quebec, 69, 70.
Caddis-worms, 170.
Caen, Emery de, quoted, 52.
Caleche, the (see Cabs), 69, 70.
Canada, apparently older than the United States, 80, 81;
population of, 81, 82;
the French in, a nation of peasants, 82.
_Canadense_, _Iter_, and the word, 101.
Canadian, French, 9;
horses, 34;
women, 34;
atmosphere, 34;
love of neighborhood, 42, 43;
houses, 44, 59;
clothes, 45;
salutations, 47;
vegetables and trees, 47, 48;
boots, 51;
tenures, 63, 64.
Cane, a straight and a twisted, 184, 185.
Cap aux Oyes, 93.
Cape Diamond, 22, 40;
signal-gun on, 85;
the view from, 88.
Cape Rosier, 92.
Cape Rouge, 21, 95.
Cape Tourmente, 41, 89, 96.
Cartier, Jacques, 7, and the St. Lawrence, 89-91;
quoted, 97, 98, 99.
Castor and Pollux, translation, 388.
Cattle-show, men at, 184.
Cemetery of fallen leaves, 269, 270.
Chaleurs, the Bay of, 90.
Chalmers, Dr. , in criticism of Coleridge, 324.
Chambly (Que. ), 11.
Champlain, Samuel, quoted, 8;
whales in map of, 91.
Charlevoix, quoted, 52, 91.
Chateau Richer, church of, 46, 49;
lodgings at, 59.
Chaucer, quoted, 159, 160.
Chaudiere River, the, 21;
Falls of the, 69, 70.
Cheap men, 29, 30.
Cherry-stones, transported by birds, 188.
Chickadee, the, 108.
Chien, La Riviere au, 56.
Churches, Catholic and Protestant, 12-14;
roadside, 46.
_Claire Fontaine, La_, 26.
Clothes, bad-weather, 28;
Canadian, 45.
Colors, names and joy of, 273-275.
Concord (Mass. ), 3, 6, 8;
History of, quoted, 115, 133, 149, 152.
Concord River, the, 115, 139.
Connecticut River, 5, 145, 147.
_Coureurs de bois_, and _de risques_, 43.
Crickets, the creaking of, 108.
Crookneck squash seeds, Quebec, 87.
Crosses, roadside, 45, 46.
Crow, the, 108;
not imported from Europe, 113.
Crystalline botany, 126, 127.
Culm, bloom in the, 253.
Darby, William, quoted, 93, 94.
Delay, verse, 418.
Departure, The, verse, 414.
Ding Dong, verse, 417.
Dogs in harness, 30.
Drake, Sir Francis, quoted, 325.
Dubartas, quoted, translation of Sylvester, 328, 329.
Ducks, 110.
"Each summer sound," verse, 112.
East Main, Labrador and, health in the words, 104.
Easterbrooks Country, the, 299, 303.
Edda, the Prose, quoted, 291.
Eggs, a master in cooking, 61, 62.
Elm, the, 263, 264, 276.
Elysium, translation, 375.
Emerson, George B. , quoted, 200.
English and French in the New World, 66, 67.
Entomology, the study of, 107, 108.
Evelyn, John, quoted, 310, 311.
_Ex Oriente Lux; ex Occidente Frux_, 221.
Experiences, the paucity of men's, 241, 242.
Eyes, the sight of different men's 285-288.
Fall of the Leaf, The, verse, 407.
Fallen Leaves, 264-270.
Falls, a drug of, 58.
Fame, translation, 378.
Fish, spearing, 119, 121-123.
Fisher, the pickerel, 180, 181.
Fishes, described in Massachusetts Report, 118.
Fitchburg (Mass. ), 3.
Fitzwilliam (N. H. ), 4.
Foreign country, quickly in a, 31.
Forests, nations preserved by, 229.
Fortifications, ancient and modern, 77, 78.
Fox, the, 117.
French, difficulties in talking, 35-37, 47;
strange, 50;
pure, 52;
in the New World, English and, 66-68;
in Canada, 81, 82;
the, spoken in Quebec streets, 86, 87.
Friends, The Value of, translation, 387.
Froissart, good place to read, 23.
Frost-smoke, 166.
Funeral Bell, The, verse, 405.
Fur Countries, inspiring neighborhood of the, 105.
Garget, poke or, 253-255.
Geese, first flock of, 110.
Gesner, Konrad von, quoted, 318.
Gosse, P. A. , Canadian Naturalist, 91.
Great Brook, 137.
Great Fields, the, 257.
"Great God! I ask thee for no meaner pelf," verse, 418.
Great River, the, or St. Lawrence, 89, 90, 91, 92.
Greece, verse, 404.
Greece, The Freedom of, translation, 390.
Green Mountains, the, 6, 100, 145, 147.
Grey, the traveler, quoted, 94.
Grippling for apples, 309.
Gulls, 110.
Guyot, Arnold, 93;
quoted, 93, 94, 220, 221.
Harvard (Mass. ), 151, 152.
"Have you not seen," verse, 413.
Hawk, fish, 110.
Head, Sir Francis, quoted, 47, 221, 222.
Height of Glory, The, translation,384.
Hercules, names the Hill of Kronos, translation, 377.
Hercules' Prayer concerning Ajax, son of Telamon, translation,
390.
Herrick, Robert, 298.
Hickory, the, 264, 265.
Highlanders in Quebec, 25-27, 28, 29, 79.
"His steady sails he never furls," verse, 109.
Hoar-frost, 126, 127.
Hochelaga, 89, 97, 99.
Homer, quoted, 181.
Hoosac Mountains, 147.
Hop, culture of the, 136, 137.
Horses, Canadian, 34.
_Hortus siccus_, nature in winter a, 179.
House, the perfect, 153.
Houses, Canadian, 44, 59;
American compared with Canadian, 100.
Humboldt, Alexander von, 92, 93.
Hunt House, the old, 201.
Hypseus' Daughter Cyrene, translation, 383.
"I saw the civil sun drying earth's tears," verse, 409.
"I see the civil sun drying earth's tears," verse, 120.
Ice, the booming of, 176.
Ice formations in a river-bank, 128, 129.
"If I am poor," verse, 412.
"If thou wilt but stand by my ear," verse, 418.
"If with light head erect I sing," verse, 396.
Ignorance, Society for the Diffusion of Useful, 239.
Imitations of Charette drivers, Yankee, 99.
"In this roadstead I have ridden," verse, 414.
"In two years' time 't had thus," verse, 303.
Independence, verse, 415.
Indoors, living, 207-209.
Inn, inscription on wall of Swedish, 141.
Inspiration, quatrain, 418.
Inspiration, verse, 396.
Invertebrate Animals, Report on, quoted, 129.
"I've searched my faculties around," verse, 418.
Jay, the, 108, 199.
Jesuit Relations, quoted, 96.
Jesuits' Barracks, the, in Quebec, 24.
Joel, the prophet, quoted, 322.
Jonson, Ben, quoted, 226.
Josselyn, John, quoted, 2.
Kalm, Swedish traveler, quoted, 21, 30, 39, 65;
on sea-plants near Quebec, 93.
Keene (N. H. ) Street, 4;
heads like, 4.
Kent, the Duke of, property of, 38.
Killington Peak, 6.
Knowledge, the slow growth of, 181;
Society for the Diffusion of Useful, 239;
true, 240.
Labrador and East Main, health in the words, 104.
Lake, a woodland, in winter, 174, 175.
Lake Champlain, 6-8.
Lake St. Peter, 96, 97.
Lalement, Hierosme, quoted, 22.
Lancaster (Mass. ), 138, 139, 149.
LANDLORD, THE, 153-162.
Landlord, qualities of the, 153-162.
La Prairie (Que. ), 11, 18, 99.
Lark, the, 109, 110.
Lead, rain of, 26.
Leaves, fallen, 264-270;
scarlet oak, 278-281.
Lincoln (Mass. ), 282, 283.
Linnaeus, quoted, 222.
Longueuil (Que. ), 20.
Loudon, John Claudius, quoted, 197, 200, 291, 292, 310.
"Low in the eastern sky," verse, 400.
McCulloch's Geographical Dictionary, quoted, 49.
McTaggart, John, quoted, 94.
MacTavish, Simon, 98.
Man, translation, 383.
Man, The Divine in, translation, 386.
Map, drawing, on kitchen table, 60;
of Canada, inspecting a, 95.
Maple, the red and sugar, 6;
the red, 258-263, 265;
the sugar, 261, 271-278.
Maranon, the river, 93.
Marlborough (Mass. ), 214.
Merrimack River, the, 147.
Michaux, Andre, quoted, 269.
Michaux, Francois Andre, quoted, 220, 261, 301.
Midnight, exploring the, 323.
Miller, a crabbed, 69.
Milne, Alexander, quoted, 193, 194.
Mississippi, discovery of the, 90;
extent of the, 93;
a panorama of the, 224.
Mission, verse, 418.
Monadnock, 4, 143, 145, 147.
Montcalm, Wolfe and, monument to, 73, 74.
Montmorenci County, 62;
the habitans of, 64-68.
Montmorenci, Falls of, 29, 37-39.
Montreal (Que. ), 9, 11;
described, 14-16;
the mixed population of, 17, 18;
from Quebec to, 96, 97;
and its surroundings, beautiful view of, 98;
the name of, 98.
Moon, The, verse, 406.
MOONLIGHT, NIGHT AND, 323-333.
Moonlight, reading by, 145.
Moonshine, 324, 325.
Moore, Thomas, 98.
Morning, winter, early, 163-166.
Morton, Thomas, 2.
Mount Royal (Montreal), 11.
Mountains, the use of, 148, 149;
and plain, influence of the, 150, 151.
Muse, The Venality of the, translation, 389.
Musketaquid, Prairie, or Concord River, 115.
Muskrat, the, 114-117.
Mussel, the, 129.
"My life more civil is and free," verse, 415.
Names, poetry in, 20;
of places, French, 56, 57;
men's, 236, 237;
of colors, 273, 274.
NATURAL HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS, 103-131.
Natural history, reading books of, 103, 105.
Nature, health to be found in, 105;
man's work the most natural, compared with that of, 119;
the hand of, upon her children, 124, 125;
different methods of work, 125;
the civilized look of, 141;
the winter purity of, 167;
a _hortus siccus_ in, 179;
men's relation to, 241, 242.
Nature, verse, 395.
Nawshawtuct Hill, 384.
New things to be seen near home, 211, 212.
Niebuhr, Barthold Georg, quoted, 290.
Niepce, Joseph Nicephore, quoted, 238.
NIGHT AND MOONLIGHT, 323-333.
Night, on Wachusett, 146;
the senses in the, 327, 328.
"No generous action can delay," verse, 418.
Nobscot Hill, 303, 304.
Norumbega, 90.
"Not unconcerned Wachusett rears his head," verse, 144.
Notre Dame (Montreal), 11;
a visit to, 12-14.
Notre Dame des Anges, Seigniory of, 96.
Nurse-plants, 193.
Nuthatch, the, 108.
Nuttall, Thomas, quoted, 111, 112.
Oak, succeeding pine, and _vice versa_, 185, 187, 189;
the scarlet, 278-281;
leaves, scarlet, 278-280.
Ogilby, America of 1670, quoted, 91.
Old Marlborough Road, The, verse, 214.
Olympia at Evening, translation, 378.
Omnipresence, verse, 417.
"O Nature! I do not aspire," verse, 395.
"One more is gone," verse, 405.
Origin of Rhodes, translation, 376.
Orinoco, the river, 93.
Orleans, Isle of, 41, 42.
Orsinora, 90.
Ortelius, _Theatrum Orbis Terrarum_, 89.
Ossian, quoted, 332.
Ottawa River, the, 41, 94, 98.
_Oui_, the repeated, 60.
Palladius, quoted, 294, 308.
Patent office, seeds sent by the, 203.
Peleus and Cadmus, translation, 381.
Penobscot Indians, use of muskrat-skins by, 116, 117.
Perch, the, 123.
Phoebe, the, 112.
"Ah, my good sir,
I know not those ways;
Little my knowledge,
Tho' many my days.
When I have slumbered,
I have heard sounds
As of travelers passing
These my grounds.
"'T was a sweet music
Wafted them by,
I could not tell
If afar off or nigh.
Unless I dreamed it,
This was of yore:
I never told it
To mortal before,
Never remembered
But in my dreams
What to me waking
A miracle seems. "
THE DEPARTURE
In this roadstead I have ridden,
In this covert I have hidden;
Friendly thoughts were cliffs to me,
And I hid beneath their lee.
This true people took the stranger,
And warm-hearted housed the ranger;
They received their roving guest,
And have fed him with the best;
Whatsoe'er the land afforded
To the stranger's wish accorded;
Shook the olive, stripped the vine,
And expressed the strengthening wine.
And by night they did spread o'er him
What by day they spread before him;--
That good-will which was repast
Was his covering at last.
The stranger moored him to their pier
Without anxiety or fear;
By day he walked the sloping land,
By night the gentle heavens he scanned.
When first his bark stood inland
To the coast of that far Finland,
Sweet-watered brooks came tumbling to the shore
The weary mariner to restore.
And still he stayed from day to day
If he their kindness might repay;
But more and more
The sullen waves came rolling toward the shore.
And still the more the stranger waited,
The less his argosy was freighted,
And still the more he stayed,
The less his debt was paid.
So he unfurled his shrouded mast
To receive the fragrant blast;
And that sane refreshing gale
Which had wooed him to remain
Again and again,
It was that filled his sail
And drove him to the main.
All day the low-hung clouds
Dropt tears into the sea;
And the wind amid the shrouds
Sighed plaintively.
INDEPENDENCE[15]
My life more civil is and free
Than any civil polity.
Ye princes, keep your realms
And circumscribed power,
Not wide as are my dreams,
Nor rich as is this hour.
What can ye give which I have not?
What can ye take which I have got?
Can ye defend the dangerless?
Can ye inherit nakedness?
To all true wants Time's ear is deaf,
Penurious states lend no relief
Out of their pelf:
But a free soul--thank God--
Can help itself.
Be sure your fate
Doth keep apart its state,
Not linked with any band,
Even the noblest of the land;
In tented fields with cloth of gold
No place doth hold,
But is more chivalrous than they are,
And sigheth for a nobler war;
A finer strain its trumpet sings,
A brighter gleam its armor flings.
The life that I aspire to live
No man proposeth me;
No trade upon the street[16]
Wears its emblazonry.
DING DONG[17]
When the world grows old by the chimney-side
Then forth to the youngling nooks I glide,
Where over the water and over the land
The bells are booming on either hand.
Now up they go ding, then down again dong,
And awhile they ring to the same old song,
For the metal goes round at a single bound,
A-cutting the fields with its measured sound,
While the tired tongue falls with a lengthened boom
As solemn and loud as the crack of doom.
Then changed is their measure to tone upon tone,
And seldom it is that one sound comes alone,
For they ring out their peals in a mingled throng,
And the breezes waft the loud ding-dong along.
When the echo hath reached me in this lone vale,
I am straightway a hero in coat of mail,
I tug at my belt and I march on my post,
And feel myself more than a match for a host.
OMNIPRESENCE
Who equaleth the coward's haste,
And still inspires the faintest heart;
Whose lofty fame is not disgraced,
Though it assume the lowest part.
INSPIRATION
If thou wilt but stand by my ear,
When through the field thy anthem's rung,
When that is done I will not fear
But the same power will abet my tongue.
MISSION
I've searched my faculties around,
To learn why life to me was lent:
I will attend the faintest sound,
And then declare to man what God hath meant.
DELAY
No generous action can delay
Or thwart our higher, steadier aims;
But if sincere and true are they,
It will arouse our sight, and nerve our frames.
PRAYER
Great God! I ask thee for no meaner pelf
Than that I may not disappoint myself;
That in my action I may soar as high
As I can now discern with this clear eye;
And next in value, which thy kindness lends,
That I may greatly disappoint my friends,
Howe'er they think or hope it that may be,
They may not dream how thou 'st distinguished me;
That my weak hand may equal my firm faith,
And my life practice more than my tongue saith;
That my low conduct may not show,
Nor my relenting lines,
That I thy purpose did not know,
Or overrated thy designs.
FOOTNOTES:
[8] [Eighteen lines of this poem appear in _Week_, pp. 181, 182, 351,
372. ]
[9] ["Suggested by the print of Guido's 'Aurora' sent by Mrs. Carlyle
as a wedding gift to Mrs. Emerson. " (Note in _Poems of Nature_. )]
[10] [Five stanzas of this poem appear in _Week_, pp. 46, 47. ]
[11] [The last four lines appear in _Week_, p. 54. ]
[12] ["The first four of these stanzas (unnamed by Thoreau) were
published in the Boston _Commonwealth_ in 1863, under the title of
'The Soul's Season,' the remainder as 'The Fall of the Leaf. ' There
can be little doubt that they are parts of one complete poem. " (Note
in _Poems of Nature_. )]
[13] [See p. 120. ]
[14] ["These stanzas formed part of the original manuscript of the
essay on 'A Winter Walk,' but were excluded by Emerson. " (Note in
_Poems of Nature_. )]
[15] ["First printed in full in the Boston _Commonwealth_, October 30,
1863. The last fourteen lines had appeared in _The Dial_ under the
title of 'The Black Knight,' and are so reprinted in the Riverside
Edition. " (Note in _Poems of Nature_. )]
[16] [In _The Dial_ this line reads, "Only the promise of my heart. "]
[17] ["A copy of this hitherto unpublished poem has been kindly
furnished by Miss A. J. Ward. " (Note in _Poems of Nature_. )]
A LIST OF THE POEMS AND BITS OF VERSE SCATTERED AMONG THOREAU'S PROSE
WRITINGS EXCLUSIVE OF THE JOURNAL
* * * * *
A WEEK ON THE CONCORD AND MERRIMACK RIVERS
"The respectable folks" PAGE 7
"Ah, 't is in vain the peaceful din" 15
"But since we sailed" 16
"Here then an aged shepherd dwelt" 16
"On Ponkawtasset, since we took our way" 16
"Who sleeps by day and walks by night" 41
"An early unconverted Saint" 42
"Low in the eastern sky" (TO THE MAIDEN IN THE EAST) 46
"Dong, sounds the brass in the East" 50
"Greece, who am I that should remember thee" 54
"Some tumultuous little rill" 62
"I make ye an offer" 69
"Conscience is instinct bred in the house" (CONSCIENCE) 75
"Such water do the gods distill" 86
"That Phaeton of our day" 103
"Then spend an age in whetting thy desire" 111
"Though all the fates should prove unkind" 151
"With frontier strength ye stand your ground" (MOUNTAINS) 170
"The western wind came lumbering in" 180
"Then idle Time ran gadding by" 181
"Now chiefly is my natal hour" 182
RUMORS FROM AN AEOLIAN HARP 184
"Away! away! away! away! " 186
"Ply the oars! away! away! " (RIVER SONG, part) 188
"Since that first 'Away! away! '" (RIVER SONG, part) 200
"Low-anchored cloud" (MIST) 201
"Man's little acts are grand" 224
"Our uninquiring corpses lie more low" 227
"The waves slowly beat" 229
"Woof of the sun, ethereal gauze" (HAZE) 229
"Where gleaming fields of haze" 234
TRANSLATIONS FROM ANACREON 240
"Thus, perchance, the Indian hunter" (BOAT SONG) 247
"My life is like a stroll upon the beach" (THE FISHER'S BOY) 255
"This is my Carnac, whose unmeasured dome" 267
"True kindness is a pure divine affinity" 275
"Lately, alas, I knew a gentle boy" (SYMPATHY) 276
THE ATLANTIDES 278
"My love must be as free" (FREE LOVE) 297
"The Good how can we trust? " 298
"Nature doth have her dawn each day" 302
"Let such pure hate still underprop" (FRIENDSHIP) 305
"Men are by birth equal in this, that given" 311
The Inward Morning 313
"My books I'd fain cast off, I cannot read" (THE SUMMER RAIN) 320
"My life has been the poem I would have writ" 365
THE POET'S DELAY 366
"I hearing get, who had but ears" 372
"Men dig and dive but cannot my wealth spend" 373
"Salmon Brook" 375
"Oft, as I turn me on my pillow o'er" 384
"I am the autumnal sun" (NATURE'S CHILD) 404
"A finer race and finer fed" 407
"I am a parcel of vain strivings tied" (SIC VITA) 410
"All things are current found" 415
WALDEN
"Men say they know many things" 46
"What's the railroad to me? " 135
"It is no dream of mine" 215
"Light-winged Smoke, Icarian bird" (SMOKE) 279
THE MAINE WOODS
"Die and be buried who will" 88
EXCURSIONS
"Within the circuit of this plodding life" (WINTER MEMORIES) 103
"We pronounce thee happy, Cicada" (from Anacreon) 108
"His steady sails he never furls" 109
RETURN OF SPRING (from Anacreon) 109
"Each summer sound" 112
"Sometimes I hear the veery's clarion" 112
"Upon the lofty elm tree sprays" (THE VIREO) 112
"Thou dusky spirit of the wood" (THE CROW) 113
"I see the civil sun drying earth's tears" (THE THAW, part) 120
"The river swelleth more and more" (A RIVER SCENE) 120
"The needles of the pine" 133
"With frontier strength ye stand your ground" (MOUNTAINS) 133
"Not unconcerned Wachusett rears his head" 144
"The sluggish smoke curls up from some deep dell" (SMOKE
IN WINTER) 165
"When Winter fringes every bough" (STANZAS WRITTEN AT
WALDEN) 176
THE OLD MARLBOROUGH ROAD 214
"In two years' time 't had thus" 303
INDEX
Achilles, The Youth of, translation, 385.
Acre, an, as long measure, 60.
Acton (Mass. ), 136.
AEschylus, The Prometheus Bound of, translation, 337-375.
AEsculapius, translation, 380.
Agriculture, the task of Americans, 229-231.
Ajax, The Treatment of, translation, 387.
Alphonse, Jean, and Falls of Montmorenci, 38, 39;
quoted, 91.
America, superiorities of, 220-224.
American, money in Quebec, 24;
the, and government, 82, 83.
Amphiaraus, The Death of, translation, 387.
Anacreon, quoted, 108, 109, 110.
Andropogons, or beard-grasses, 225-258.
Ange Gardien Parish, 42;
church of, 46.
Angler's Souvenir, the, 119.
Apollo, translation, 383.
Apple, history of the tree, 290-298;
the wild, 299, 300;
the crab-, 301, 302;
growth of the wild, 302-308;
cropped by cattle, 303-307;
the fruit and flavor of the, 308-314;
beauty of the, 314, 315;
naming of the, 315-317;
last gleaning of the, 317-319;
the frozen-thawed, 319, 320;
dying out of the wild, 321, 322.
Apple-howling, 298.
Arpent, the, 60.
Ashburnham (Mass. ), 3;
with a better house than any in Canada, 100.
Ash trees, 6.
Assabet, the, 136.
Audubon, John James, reading, 103; 109, note; 112, note.
Aurora of Guido, The, verse, 399.
Autumn foliage, brightness of, 249-252.
AUTUMNAL TINTS, 249-289.
Bartram, William, quoted, 199.
Bathing feet in brooks, 140.
Beard-grasses, andropogons or, 255-258.
Beauport (Que. ), and _le Chemin de_, 30;
getting lodgings in, 35-38;
church in, 69;
Seigniory of, 96.
Beaupre, Seigniory of the Cote de, 41.
"Behold, how spring appearing," verse, 109.
Bellows Falls (Vt. ), 5.
Birch, yellow, 6.
Birds and mountains, 149.
Bittern, booming of the, 111.
Black Knight, The, verse, 415, note.
Blueberries, and milk, supper of, 144.
Bluebird, the, 110.
Bobolink, the, 113.
Bodaeus, quoted, 317.
Bolton (Mass. ), 137.
Bonsecours Market (Montreal), 11.
Books on natural history, reading, 103-105.
Boots, Canadian, 51.
Boston (Mass. ), 3, 7, 9.
Boucher, quoted, 91.
Boucherville (Que. ), 20.
Bouchette, Topographical Description of the Canadas, quoted, 41,
42, 63, 64, 89, 92, 94, 95.
Bout de l'Isle, 20.
Brand's Popular Antiquities quoted, 297, 298.
Bravery of science, the, 106, 107.
"Brother, where dost thou dwell? " verse, 403.
Burlington (Vt. ), 7, 99.
Burton, Sir Richard Francis, 228.
Butternut tree, 6.
Cabs, Montreal, 18;
Quebec, 69, 70.
Caddis-worms, 170.
Caen, Emery de, quoted, 52.
Caleche, the (see Cabs), 69, 70.
Canada, apparently older than the United States, 80, 81;
population of, 81, 82;
the French in, a nation of peasants, 82.
_Canadense_, _Iter_, and the word, 101.
Canadian, French, 9;
horses, 34;
women, 34;
atmosphere, 34;
love of neighborhood, 42, 43;
houses, 44, 59;
clothes, 45;
salutations, 47;
vegetables and trees, 47, 48;
boots, 51;
tenures, 63, 64.
Cane, a straight and a twisted, 184, 185.
Cap aux Oyes, 93.
Cape Diamond, 22, 40;
signal-gun on, 85;
the view from, 88.
Cape Rosier, 92.
Cape Rouge, 21, 95.
Cape Tourmente, 41, 89, 96.
Cartier, Jacques, 7, and the St. Lawrence, 89-91;
quoted, 97, 98, 99.
Castor and Pollux, translation, 388.
Cattle-show, men at, 184.
Cemetery of fallen leaves, 269, 270.
Chaleurs, the Bay of, 90.
Chalmers, Dr. , in criticism of Coleridge, 324.
Chambly (Que. ), 11.
Champlain, Samuel, quoted, 8;
whales in map of, 91.
Charlevoix, quoted, 52, 91.
Chateau Richer, church of, 46, 49;
lodgings at, 59.
Chaucer, quoted, 159, 160.
Chaudiere River, the, 21;
Falls of the, 69, 70.
Cheap men, 29, 30.
Cherry-stones, transported by birds, 188.
Chickadee, the, 108.
Chien, La Riviere au, 56.
Churches, Catholic and Protestant, 12-14;
roadside, 46.
_Claire Fontaine, La_, 26.
Clothes, bad-weather, 28;
Canadian, 45.
Colors, names and joy of, 273-275.
Concord (Mass. ), 3, 6, 8;
History of, quoted, 115, 133, 149, 152.
Concord River, the, 115, 139.
Connecticut River, 5, 145, 147.
_Coureurs de bois_, and _de risques_, 43.
Crickets, the creaking of, 108.
Crookneck squash seeds, Quebec, 87.
Crosses, roadside, 45, 46.
Crow, the, 108;
not imported from Europe, 113.
Crystalline botany, 126, 127.
Culm, bloom in the, 253.
Darby, William, quoted, 93, 94.
Delay, verse, 418.
Departure, The, verse, 414.
Ding Dong, verse, 417.
Dogs in harness, 30.
Drake, Sir Francis, quoted, 325.
Dubartas, quoted, translation of Sylvester, 328, 329.
Ducks, 110.
"Each summer sound," verse, 112.
East Main, Labrador and, health in the words, 104.
Easterbrooks Country, the, 299, 303.
Edda, the Prose, quoted, 291.
Eggs, a master in cooking, 61, 62.
Elm, the, 263, 264, 276.
Elysium, translation, 375.
Emerson, George B. , quoted, 200.
English and French in the New World, 66, 67.
Entomology, the study of, 107, 108.
Evelyn, John, quoted, 310, 311.
_Ex Oriente Lux; ex Occidente Frux_, 221.
Experiences, the paucity of men's, 241, 242.
Eyes, the sight of different men's 285-288.
Fall of the Leaf, The, verse, 407.
Fallen Leaves, 264-270.
Falls, a drug of, 58.
Fame, translation, 378.
Fish, spearing, 119, 121-123.
Fisher, the pickerel, 180, 181.
Fishes, described in Massachusetts Report, 118.
Fitchburg (Mass. ), 3.
Fitzwilliam (N. H. ), 4.
Foreign country, quickly in a, 31.
Forests, nations preserved by, 229.
Fortifications, ancient and modern, 77, 78.
Fox, the, 117.
French, difficulties in talking, 35-37, 47;
strange, 50;
pure, 52;
in the New World, English and, 66-68;
in Canada, 81, 82;
the, spoken in Quebec streets, 86, 87.
Friends, The Value of, translation, 387.
Froissart, good place to read, 23.
Frost-smoke, 166.
Funeral Bell, The, verse, 405.
Fur Countries, inspiring neighborhood of the, 105.
Garget, poke or, 253-255.
Geese, first flock of, 110.
Gesner, Konrad von, quoted, 318.
Gosse, P. A. , Canadian Naturalist, 91.
Great Brook, 137.
Great Fields, the, 257.
"Great God! I ask thee for no meaner pelf," verse, 418.
Great River, the, or St. Lawrence, 89, 90, 91, 92.
Greece, verse, 404.
Greece, The Freedom of, translation, 390.
Green Mountains, the, 6, 100, 145, 147.
Grey, the traveler, quoted, 94.
Grippling for apples, 309.
Gulls, 110.
Guyot, Arnold, 93;
quoted, 93, 94, 220, 221.
Harvard (Mass. ), 151, 152.
"Have you not seen," verse, 413.
Hawk, fish, 110.
Head, Sir Francis, quoted, 47, 221, 222.
Height of Glory, The, translation,384.
Hercules, names the Hill of Kronos, translation, 377.
Hercules' Prayer concerning Ajax, son of Telamon, translation,
390.
Herrick, Robert, 298.
Hickory, the, 264, 265.
Highlanders in Quebec, 25-27, 28, 29, 79.
"His steady sails he never furls," verse, 109.
Hoar-frost, 126, 127.
Hochelaga, 89, 97, 99.
Homer, quoted, 181.
Hoosac Mountains, 147.
Hop, culture of the, 136, 137.
Horses, Canadian, 34.
_Hortus siccus_, nature in winter a, 179.
House, the perfect, 153.
Houses, Canadian, 44, 59;
American compared with Canadian, 100.
Humboldt, Alexander von, 92, 93.
Hunt House, the old, 201.
Hypseus' Daughter Cyrene, translation, 383.
"I saw the civil sun drying earth's tears," verse, 409.
"I see the civil sun drying earth's tears," verse, 120.
Ice, the booming of, 176.
Ice formations in a river-bank, 128, 129.
"If I am poor," verse, 412.
"If thou wilt but stand by my ear," verse, 418.
"If with light head erect I sing," verse, 396.
Ignorance, Society for the Diffusion of Useful, 239.
Imitations of Charette drivers, Yankee, 99.
"In this roadstead I have ridden," verse, 414.
"In two years' time 't had thus," verse, 303.
Independence, verse, 415.
Indoors, living, 207-209.
Inn, inscription on wall of Swedish, 141.
Inspiration, quatrain, 418.
Inspiration, verse, 396.
Invertebrate Animals, Report on, quoted, 129.
"I've searched my faculties around," verse, 418.
Jay, the, 108, 199.
Jesuit Relations, quoted, 96.
Jesuits' Barracks, the, in Quebec, 24.
Joel, the prophet, quoted, 322.
Jonson, Ben, quoted, 226.
Josselyn, John, quoted, 2.
Kalm, Swedish traveler, quoted, 21, 30, 39, 65;
on sea-plants near Quebec, 93.
Keene (N. H. ) Street, 4;
heads like, 4.
Kent, the Duke of, property of, 38.
Killington Peak, 6.
Knowledge, the slow growth of, 181;
Society for the Diffusion of Useful, 239;
true, 240.
Labrador and East Main, health in the words, 104.
Lake, a woodland, in winter, 174, 175.
Lake Champlain, 6-8.
Lake St. Peter, 96, 97.
Lalement, Hierosme, quoted, 22.
Lancaster (Mass. ), 138, 139, 149.
LANDLORD, THE, 153-162.
Landlord, qualities of the, 153-162.
La Prairie (Que. ), 11, 18, 99.
Lark, the, 109, 110.
Lead, rain of, 26.
Leaves, fallen, 264-270;
scarlet oak, 278-281.
Lincoln (Mass. ), 282, 283.
Linnaeus, quoted, 222.
Longueuil (Que. ), 20.
Loudon, John Claudius, quoted, 197, 200, 291, 292, 310.
"Low in the eastern sky," verse, 400.
McCulloch's Geographical Dictionary, quoted, 49.
McTaggart, John, quoted, 94.
MacTavish, Simon, 98.
Man, translation, 383.
Man, The Divine in, translation, 386.
Map, drawing, on kitchen table, 60;
of Canada, inspecting a, 95.
Maple, the red and sugar, 6;
the red, 258-263, 265;
the sugar, 261, 271-278.
Maranon, the river, 93.
Marlborough (Mass. ), 214.
Merrimack River, the, 147.
Michaux, Andre, quoted, 269.
Michaux, Francois Andre, quoted, 220, 261, 301.
Midnight, exploring the, 323.
Miller, a crabbed, 69.
Milne, Alexander, quoted, 193, 194.
Mississippi, discovery of the, 90;
extent of the, 93;
a panorama of the, 224.
Mission, verse, 418.
Monadnock, 4, 143, 145, 147.
Montcalm, Wolfe and, monument to, 73, 74.
Montmorenci County, 62;
the habitans of, 64-68.
Montmorenci, Falls of, 29, 37-39.
Montreal (Que. ), 9, 11;
described, 14-16;
the mixed population of, 17, 18;
from Quebec to, 96, 97;
and its surroundings, beautiful view of, 98;
the name of, 98.
Moon, The, verse, 406.
MOONLIGHT, NIGHT AND, 323-333.
Moonlight, reading by, 145.
Moonshine, 324, 325.
Moore, Thomas, 98.
Morning, winter, early, 163-166.
Morton, Thomas, 2.
Mount Royal (Montreal), 11.
Mountains, the use of, 148, 149;
and plain, influence of the, 150, 151.
Muse, The Venality of the, translation, 389.
Musketaquid, Prairie, or Concord River, 115.
Muskrat, the, 114-117.
Mussel, the, 129.
"My life more civil is and free," verse, 415.
Names, poetry in, 20;
of places, French, 56, 57;
men's, 236, 237;
of colors, 273, 274.
NATURAL HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS, 103-131.
Natural history, reading books of, 103, 105.
Nature, health to be found in, 105;
man's work the most natural, compared with that of, 119;
the hand of, upon her children, 124, 125;
different methods of work, 125;
the civilized look of, 141;
the winter purity of, 167;
a _hortus siccus_ in, 179;
men's relation to, 241, 242.
Nature, verse, 395.
Nawshawtuct Hill, 384.
New things to be seen near home, 211, 212.
Niebuhr, Barthold Georg, quoted, 290.
Niepce, Joseph Nicephore, quoted, 238.
NIGHT AND MOONLIGHT, 323-333.
Night, on Wachusett, 146;
the senses in the, 327, 328.
"No generous action can delay," verse, 418.
Nobscot Hill, 303, 304.
Norumbega, 90.
"Not unconcerned Wachusett rears his head," verse, 144.
Notre Dame (Montreal), 11;
a visit to, 12-14.
Notre Dame des Anges, Seigniory of, 96.
Nurse-plants, 193.
Nuthatch, the, 108.
Nuttall, Thomas, quoted, 111, 112.
Oak, succeeding pine, and _vice versa_, 185, 187, 189;
the scarlet, 278-281;
leaves, scarlet, 278-280.
Ogilby, America of 1670, quoted, 91.
Old Marlborough Road, The, verse, 214.
Olympia at Evening, translation, 378.
Omnipresence, verse, 417.
"O Nature! I do not aspire," verse, 395.
"One more is gone," verse, 405.
Origin of Rhodes, translation, 376.
Orinoco, the river, 93.
Orleans, Isle of, 41, 42.
Orsinora, 90.
Ortelius, _Theatrum Orbis Terrarum_, 89.
Ossian, quoted, 332.
Ottawa River, the, 41, 94, 98.
_Oui_, the repeated, 60.
Palladius, quoted, 294, 308.
Patent office, seeds sent by the, 203.
Peleus and Cadmus, translation, 381.
Penobscot Indians, use of muskrat-skins by, 116, 117.
Perch, the, 123.
Phoebe, the, 112.
