THE UNITED STATES TO OLD WORLD CRITICS

HERE first the duties of to-day, the lessons of the
     concrete,
Wealth, order, travel, shelter, products, plenty;
As of the building of some varied, vast, perpetual
     edifice,
Whence to arise inevitable in time, the towering
     roofs, the lamps,
The solid-planted spires tall shooting to the stars.

1888 1888-9

THE CALMING THOUGHT OF ALL

THAT coursing on, whate'er men's speculations,
Amid the changing schools, theologies, philosophies,
Amid the bawling presentations new and old,
The round earth's silent vital laws, facts, modes
     continue.

1888
1888-9

THANKS IN OLD AGE

THANKS in old age — thanks ere I go,
For health, the midday sun, the impalpable air
     — for life, mere life,
For precious ever-lingering memories, (of you
     my mother dear
     — you father — you, brothers,
     sisters, friends,)
For all my days — not those of peace
     alone — the days of war the same,

For gentle words, caresses, gifts from foreign
     lands,
For shelter, wine and meat — for sweet
     appreciation,
(You distant, dim unknown — or young
     or old — countless, unspecified,
     readers belov'd,
We never met, and ne'er shall meet —
     and yet our souls embrace, long, close and
     long;)
For beings, groups, love, deeds, words, books
     — for colors, forms,
For all the brave strong men — devoted,
     hardy men — who've forward sprung
     in freedom's help, all years, all lands,
For braver, stronger, more devoted men —
     (a special laurel ere I go, to life's war's chosen
     ones,
The cannoneers of song and thought —
     the great artillerists — the foremost
     leaders, captains of the soul:)
As soldier from an ended war return'd —
     As traveler out of myriads, to the long
     procession retrospective,
Thanks — joyful thanks! — a soldier's,
     traveler's thanks.

1888 1888-
9

LIFE AND DEATH

THE two old, simple problems ever intertwined,
Close home, elusive, present, baffled, grappled.
By each successive age insoluble, pass'd on,
To ours to-day — and we pass on the same.

1888 1888-9

THE VOICE OF THE RAIN

AND who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower,
Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here
     translated:
I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain,
Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottom-
    less sea,
Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form'd, altogether
     changed, and yet the same,
I descend to lave the drouths, atomies, dust-layers of
     the globe,
And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent,
     unborn;

And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my
     own origin and make pure and beautify it;
(For song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfilment,
     wandering,
Reck'd or unreck'd, duly with love returns.)

(1885)
1888-9

SOON SHALL THE WINTER'S FOIL BE HERE

SOON shall the winter's foil be here;
Soon shall these icy ligatures unbind and melt —
     A little while,
And air, soil, wave, suffused shall be in softness, bloom
     and growth — a thousand forms shall rise
From these dead clods and chills as from low burial graves.
Thine eyes, ears — all thy best attributes —
     all that takes cognizance of natural beauty,
Shall wake and fill. Thou shalt perceive the simple shows,
     the delicate miracles of earth,
Dandelions, clover, the emerald grass, the early scents and
     flowers,
The arbutus under foot, the willow's yellow-green, the
     blossoming plum and cherry;
With these the robin, lark and thrush, singing their songs
     — the flitting bluebird;
For such the scenes the annual play brings on.

1888 1888-9