| |
1849
AS robe majestic down a statue flows, | |
| So noble thought down Emerson. Withal, | |
| Such sweetness went, you even might suppose, | |
| Spite of that bearing dignified and tall, | |
| A woman’s gentle heart beat under all; | 5 |
| |
| For while no prayers his constancy could shake, | |
| No storm avail his spirit’s barque to make | |
| From anchor of his settled purpose break, | |
| His every action could not but confess | |
| The tempering of ingrainëd tenderness. | 10 |
| |
| Yet, while our young souls loved him, ’twas agreed | |
| Amongst us that this man, though ever apt | |
| For kind deed, and in self so little wrapped, | |
| Almost too high for love was; had indeed | |
| Of no man’s love or admiration need. | 15 |
| |
| And yet he, loving, liked to be beloved; | |
| And if at times it might appear he moved | |
| Austerely calm and cold, that was because | |
| Grand hearts may not transcend their nature’s laws | |
| Either to beat more quickly or to pause. | 20 |
| |
| There was the genial waiting on his friend | |
| That friendship loves to feel. Absence would send | |
| As much pain, as much pleasure presence lend | |
| To him as one could wish; but the control | |
| Was over all of a self-mastered soul. | 25 |
| |
| Therefore in our brief intercourse was mixed, | |
| With strangeness, intimacy; and a feud | |
| There came our awe and confidence betwixt; | |
| And moods of his there were that must be viewed | |
| Like gated ways where none might dare intrude. | 30 |
| |
| One foolish man, by his sweet mien betrayed, | |
| An undue freedom took. Swift silence played | |
| Line lambent lightning round, and on us fell | |
| Awe of the great majestic soul that well | |
| Knew, still or speaking, how to be obeyed. | 35 |
| |
| So have I seen in festive season go | |
| A summer barque, laugh-lightened, ’neath the flow | |
| Of waving flags, the while, in their sweet pride, | |
| On deck the youths and maidens gaily glide | |
| With motions by sweet music justified. | 40 |
| |
| Sudden, o’er sunken rock, harsh grates the keel; | |
| From every mouth the merry laughter dies; | |
| The founts of music freeze; astonished eyes | |
| Gaze wide on eyes astonished; and all feel | |
| The fears proud hearts indignantly conceal. | 45 |
| |
| But, no new shock confirming what each dreads, | |
| Again the music melts and flows; its threads | |
| The dance reweaves; over each mouth there spreads | |
| The young vermilion laughter; and once more | |
| The fluttering flags wave wind-filled as before. | 50 |
| |
