Page:Poems, now first collected, Stedman, 1897.djvu/117

 THE DEATH OF BRYANT

was it then with Nature when the soul

Of her own poet heard a voice which came

From out the void, "Thou art no longer lent

To Earth!" when that incarnate spirit, blent

With the abiding force of waves that roll,

Wind-cradled vapors, circling stars that flame,

She did recall? How went

His antique shade, beaconed upon its way

Through the still aisles of night to universal day?

Her voice it was, her sovereign voice, which bade

The Earth resolve his elemental mould;

And once more came her summons: "Long, too long,

Thou lingerest, and charmest with thy song!

''Return! return!''" Thus Nature spoke, and made

Her sign; and forthwith on the minstrel old

An arrow, bright and strong, 97