Page:Poems, Emerson, 1847.djvu/146

134 I met many travellers

Who the road had surely kept;

They saw not my fine revellers,—

These had crossed them while they slept.

Some had heard their fair report,

In the country or the court.

Fleetest couriers alive

Never yet could once arrive,

As they went or they returned,

At the house where these sojourned.

Sometimes their strong speed they slacken,

Though they are not overtaken;

In sleep their jubilant troop is near,—

I tuneful voices overhear;

It may be in wood or waste,—

At unawares 'tis come and past.

Their near camp my spirit knows

By signs gracious as rainbows.

I thenceforward, and long after,

Listen for their harp-like laughter,

And carry in my heart, for days,

Peace that hallows rudest ways.