Poems

THE WORKS EALPH WA T DO EMERSON VOL. Ill POEMS r, Y RALPH WALDO EMERSON MAGMILLAN AND CO, LIMITED ST. MARTINS STREET, LONDON 1908 CONTENTS. PAQR THE SPHINX,1 EACH AND ALL . . . . . 7 THE PROBLEM 9 To KHEA 12 TUB VISIT . ..... 15 UKIEL 17 THE WORLD-SOUL . 20 ALPHONSO OF CASTILE . ... 25 MITHRIDATES ........ 28 To J. W 30 FATE 32 GUY ... 34, TACT . . 36 HAM AT KEY A . . 38 EARTH - SONG . ... 39 GOOD-BYE ... .... 41 THE RHODORA . . . .43 THE HUMBLE-BEE . .... 44 BERRYING ... ... 47 THE SNOW-STORM . .... 48 WOODNOTES, 1 50 WOODNOTES, II 56 MONADNOC 69 FABLE 84 ODE 85 vi CONTENTS. PAOE ASTHMA .89 ETIENNK DE LA BOEUK .... 91 SlTIJM OUIQUE 92 COMPENSATION ... .... 93 Fount HANCE 91 THE IAHK 95 FOUKKUNNEKS ., 90 SinisuM COKDA 98 DE TO BEAUTY 99 GIVE ALL TO Lo E 103 To ELLEN ......... 105 To EVA . 107 THE AMU LET ........ 108 TIIINE EYES MILL SIIINEIJ . . . . . . 109 Euos .110 UEUMIONE . . Ill INITIAL, DEMONIC, AND CELESTIAL LOVE . . . 114 Tm APOLOGY 129 MEULIN, 1 130 MERLIN, II 133 BACCHUS .135 Loss AND GAIN 138 MEIIOPS . 139 THE HOUSE 140 SAADI . 142 HOLIDAYS ., 149 IAINTIM AND SCULITUIIE, ...... 150 FKOM THE PEKSIAN OF HAFIZ 151 OIIASELLE 157 XENOPUANES . . . . . . . . 159 THE DAYS RATION ....... 160 BLIGHT .162 MlJSKETAQUID 165 DIRGE 168 THRENODY 171 vill CONTENTS. PAOK THE PAST 278 THE LAST FAREWELL . . .279 IN MEMORIAM . .... 281 ELEMENTS. EXPERIENCE ...... 289 COMPENSATION ..... 290 POLITICS 292 HEROISM . 294 CHARACTER ... ... 295 CULTURE,296 FRIENDSHIP 297 BEAUTY ...... 298 MANNERS . . 300 ART . .... .301 SPIRITUAL LAWS 303 UNITY . . ... 304 WORSHIP . . 305 QUATRAINS 307 TRANSLATIONS, ., . .317 POEMS. THE SPHINX. THE Sphinx is drowsy, Her wings arc furled Her ear is heavy, She broods onthe world. Wholl toll me my secret, Tho ages have kept I waited the seer, While they slumbered and slept - The fate of the man-child The meaning of man Known fruit of the unknown Daedalian plan Out of sleeping a waking, Out of waking a sleep Life death overtaking Deep underneath deep VOL. III. B POEMS. Erect as a sunbeam, Upspringeth the palm Ill. 1 - elephant browses, Undaunted and calm In beautiful motion The thrush plies his wings Kind leaves of his covert, Your silence he sings. 44 The waves, unashamed, In difference s eet, Play glad with the breezes, Old playfellows meet The journeying atoms, Primordial wholes, Firmly draw, firmly drive, By their animate poles. Sea, earth, air, sound, silence, Plant, quadruped, bird, By one music enchanted, One deity stirred, Each the other adorning, Accompany still Night voileth the morning, The vapour the hill. The babe by its mother Lies bathed in joy Glide its hours uncounted, The sun is its toy THE SPHINX. Shines the peace of all being, Without cloud, in its eyes ATM the sun of the world In soft miniature lies But man crouches and blushes, Absconds and conceals He creepcth and poepeth, He palters and steals 1 n firm, mel ancli ol y, Jealous glancing around, An oaf, an accomplice, Ho poisons the ground. Out spoke the great mother, Beholding his fear At the sound of her accents Cold shuddered the sphere 1 Who has drugged my boys cup 1 Who has mixed my boys bread Who, with sadness and madness, Has turned the man-childs headf I heard a poet answer, Aloud and cheerfully, Say on, sweet Sphinx thy dirges Arc pleasant songs to me. Deep love lieth under These pictures of time They fade in the light of Their meaning sublime. POEMS. The fiend that manharries Is love of the Best Yawns the pit of the Dragon, Lit l y rays from the Blest. The Lethe of nature Cant trance him again, Whose soul sees the perfect, Which his eyes seek in vain. Profounder, profoundcr, Mans spirit must dive To his aye-rolling orbit No goal will arrive The heavens that now draw him With sweetness untold, Once found, for new heavens He spurneth the old. Pride ruined the angels, Their shame them restores And the joy that is sweetest Lurks in stings of remorse...