George Willis Cooke, comp. The Poets of Transcendentalism: An Anthology. 1903.
RoyaltyDavid Atwood Wasson (18231887)
T
Sufficeth not all worth the city knows
To pay that debt which his own heart he owes;
For less than level to his bosom rise
The low crowd’s heaven and stars: above their skies
Runneth the road his daily feet have pressed;
A loftier heaven he beareth in his breast,
And o’er the summits of achieving hies
With ne’er a thought of merit or of meed;
Choosing divinest labors through a pride
Of soul, that holdeth appetite to feed
Ever on angel-herbage, nought beside;
Nor praises more himself for hero-deed
Than stones for weight, or open seas for tide.