Page:Unpublished poems by Bryant and Thoreau.djvu/28

 A mighty mausoleum, where

Nature lay shrouded: And the tread

Of man gives out a hollow sound,

As from a tomb. I look'd around

O'er the desolate earth: there was no ray

Of gladness there: I turn'd away,

And look'd to the glorious heavens afar,

Where the stranger orb, in his flaming car,

Rode on his destined way:

Like a proud and bloody conqueror,

Bearing the banner of his war,

Arrayed in his golden robes of fame,

And crown'd with a victor's diadem.

I look'd to the lovely vestal throng

Of shining stars, and they smiled on me

With a kind and gentle sympathy—

For I have lov'd them long:

From youth to manhood I have lov'd

With each pure and bright divinity

To hold sweet commune: I have rov'd,

In boyhood's hours of glee,

And since the sombre scarf of years

Was over me, full many a night

Beneath their canopy of light,

And felt my soul grow pure and bright