Page:Poems, Household Edition, Emerson, 1904.djvu/405

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE WATERFALL
369

I watched the singer with delight,—
But mark what changed my joy to fright,—
When that bird sang, I gave the theme;
That wood-bird sang my last night's dream,
A brown wren was the Daniel
That pierced my trance its drift to tell,
Knew my quarrel, how and why,
Published it to lake and sky,
Told every word and syllable
In his flippant chirping babble,
All my wrath and all my shames,
Nay, God is witness, gave the names.

THE WATERFALL

A patch of meadow upland
Reached by a mile of road,
Soothed by the voice of waters,
With birds and flowers bestowed.


Hither I come for strength
Which well it can supply,
For Love draws might from terrene force
And potencies of sky.