Page:Poems, Household Edition, Emerson, 1904.djvu/427

Rh I should like to die in sweets,

A hill's leaves for winding-sheets,

And the searching sun to see

That I am laid with decency.

And the commissioned wind to sing

His mighty psalm from fall to spring

And annual tunes commemorate

Of Nature's child the common fate.

A LETTER

brother, would you know the life,

Please God, that I would lead?

On the first wheels that quit this weary town

Over yon western bridges I would ride

And with a cheerful benison forsake

Each street and spire and roof, incontinent.

Then would I seek where God might guide my steps,

Deep in a woodland tract, a sunny farm,

Amid the mountain counties, Hants, Franklin, Berks,

Where down the rock ravine a river roars,

Even from a brook, and where old woods

Not tamed and cleared cumber the ground

With their centennial wrecks.

Find me a slope where I can feel the sun