George Willis Cooke, comp. The Poets of Transcendentalism: An Anthology. 1903.
The Inward MorningHenry David Thoreau (18171862)
P
Which outward nature wears,
And in its fashion’s hourly change
It all things else repairs.
And can no difference find,
Till some new ray of peace uncalled
Illumes my inmost mind.
And paints the heavens so gay,
But yonder fast-abiding light
With its unchanging ray?
Upon a winter’s morn,
Where’er his silent beams intrude
The murky night is gone.
The morning breeze would come,
Or humble flowers anticipate
The insect’s noonday hum,—
From far streamed through the aisles,
And nimbly told the forest trees
For many stretching miles?
Such cheerful morning news,
In the horizon of my mind
Have seen such orient hues,
When the first birds awake,
Are heard within some silent wood,
Where they the small twigs break,
Before the sun appears,
The harbinger of summer heats,
Which from afar he bears.