Ralph Waldo Emerson, comp. (1803–1882). Parnassus: An Anthology of Poetry. 1880.
InspirationHenry David Thoreau (18171862)
I
Though all the Muses lend their force,
From my poor love of any thing,
The verse is weak and shallow as its source.
Listening behind me for my wit,
With faith superior to hope,
More anxious to keep back than forward it;
Unto the flame my heart hath lit,
Then will the verse forever wear,—
Time cannot bend the line which God has writ.
And sight, who had but eyes before;
I moments live, who lived but years,
And truth discern, who knew but learning’s lore.
And only now my prime of life,
Of manhood’s strength it is the flower,
’Tis peace’s end, and war’s beginning strife.
By a gray wall, or some chance place,
Unseasoning time, insulting June,
And vexing day with its presuming face.
Which not my worth nor want hath bought,
Which wooed me young, and wooed me old,
And to this evening hath me brought.