Page:May-day and other pieces, Emerson, 1867.djvu/175

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

HEROISM.

RUBY wine is drunk by knaves,
Sugar spends to fatten slaves,
Rose and vine-leaf deck buffoons;
Thunder-clouds are Jove's festoons,
Drooping oft in wreaths of dread,
Lightning-knotted round his head;
The hero is not fed on sweets,
Daily his own heart he eats;
Chambers of the great are jails,
And head-winds right for royal sails.