George Willis Cooke, comp. The Poets of Transcendentalism: An Anthology. 1903.
The PoetEllen Sturgis Hooper (18121848)
H
His bearing proud, his spirit high,
Filled with the heavens from whence he came,
He smiled upon man’s destiny.
And felt a secret strength within,
Who wondered at the pitying tear
Shed over human loss and sin.
Than aught that round about him shone,
He walked erect through shades of night,
Clear was his pathway, but how lone!
Upon a form so like to theirs,
Worship the presence, yet withdraw,
And carry elsewhere warmer prayers.
Forgetting once his strange estate,
Unloosed the lyre from off his breast
And strung its chords to human fate;
Carolled by idle passing tongue,
Gave back the notes that lingered there,
And in heaven’s tones earth’s low lay sung;
To thank him with a brother’s soul,
And when the generous wine was brought,
Shared in the feast and quaffed the bowl;—
And sunned their being in his light,
Pressed on his way his steps to greet,
And in his love forgot his might.
On him its shadow also fell,
And dimmed the lustre of a birth,
Whose day-spring was from heaven’s own well,
Their woes were hallowed by his woe,
Humanity, half cold and dead,
Had been revived in genius’ glow.