George Willis Cooke, comp. The Poets of Transcendentalism: An Anthology. 1903.
A Summer Morning Hour with NatureAugusta Cooper Bristol (18351910)
T
And curtains gray,
And orient gates, that move on silver hinges,
Let in the day.
O’er eastern hills;
The happy summer bird, with matin praises
The thicket fills.
And lilies wrought,
Through all its varied unity discloses
God’s perfect thought.
Adown the mead,
And half her precious mysteries unravel,
Her scripture read.
And turns them o’er,
My heart goes back to one in bygone ages
Who loved her lore,
And breezy air;
Who sought the sacred silence of the mountain,
For secret prayer.
And cares that rule,
That I may prove the whispering wildernesses
Heaven’s vestibule!
And earthly locks,
A still small voice; and know that through His garden
The Father walks.
Along the sward,
Are whispering to my spirit as I listen,
“It is the Lord.”
And solemn sigh,
That the veiled splendor of His awful vesture
Is passing by.
But leap to lave
The silent marching feet, that leave a sparkle
Along the wave.
The gales refine;
The odor floating from the lily’s censer
Is breath divine.
And large reply,
To him who comes to her with inward fitness
Of harmony.