Page:Writings of Henry David Thoreau (1906) v7.djvu/152

74 Then changed is their measure to tone upon tone,

And seldom it is that one sound comes alone,

For they ring out their peals in a mingled throng,

And the breezes waft the loud ding-dong along.

When the echo has reached me in this lone vale,

I am straightway a hero in coat of mail,

I tug at my belt and I march on my post,

And feel myself more than a match for a host.

I am on the alert for some wonderful Thing

Which somewhere's a-taking place;

'T is perchance the salute which our planet doth ring

When it meeteth another in space.

Feb. 25.

March 3. He must be something more than natural,—even supernatural. Nature will not speak through but along with him. His voice will not proceed from her