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Home  »  American Sonnets  »  William Ellery Channing (1818–1901)

Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891.

“Hearts of eternity”

William Ellery Channing (1818–1901)

HEARTS of eternity,—hearts of the deep!

Proclaim from land to sea your mighty fate;

How that for you no living comes too late;

How ye cannot in Theban labyrinth creep;

How ye great harvests from small surface reap;

Shout, excellent band, in grand primeval strain,

Like midnight winds that foam along the main,

And do all things rather than pause and weep.

A human heart knows nought of littleness,

Suspects no man, compares with no one’s ways,

Hath in one hour most glorious length of days,

A recompense, a joy, a loveliness;

Like eaglet keen, shoots into azure far,

And always dwelling nigh is the remotest star.