Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
I. AdmirationO, fairest of rural maids!
William Cullen Bryant (17941878)O,
Thy birth was in the forest shades;
Green boughs, and glimpses of the sky,
Were all that met thine infant eye.
Were ever in the sylvan wild,
And all the beauty of the place
Is in thy heart and on thy face.
Is in the light shade of thy locks;
Thy step is as the wind, that weaves
Its playful way among the leaves.
And silent waters heaven is seen;
Their lashes are the herbs that look
On their young figures in the brook.
Are not more sinless than thy breast;
The holy peace, that fills the air
Of those calm solitudes, is there.