Page:Poems, Household Edition, Emerson, 1904.djvu/100

64 Eyes that frame cities where none be,

And hands that stablish what these see:

And by the moral of his place

Hint summits of heroic grace;

Man in these crags a fastness find

To fight pollution of the mind;

In the wide thaw and ooze of wrong,

Adhere like this foundation strong,

The insanity of towns to stem

With simpleness for stratagem.

But if the brave old mould is broke,

And end in churls the mountain folk

In tavern cheer and tavern joke,

Sink, O mountain, in the swamp!

Hide in thy skies, O sovereign lamp!

Perish like leaves, the highland breed

No sire survive, no son succeed!

Soft! let not the offended muse

Toil's hard hap with scorn accuse.

Many hamlets sought I then,

Many farms of mountain men.

Rallying round a parish steeple

Nestle warm the highland people,

Coarse and boisterous, yet mild,

Strong as giant, slow as child.

Sweat and season are their arts,

Their talismans are ploughs and carts;

And well the youngest can command