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Home  »  Yale Book of American Verse  »  42 Days

Thomas R. Lounsbury, ed. (1838–1915). Yale Book of American Verse. 1912.

Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803–1882

Ralph Waldo Emerson

42 Days

DAUGHTERS of Time, the hypocritic Days,

Muffled and dumb like barefoot dervishes,

And marching single in an endless file,

Bring diadems and fagots in their hands.

To each they offer gifts after his will,

Bread, kingdoms, stars, and sky that holds them all.

I, in my pleachèd garden, watched the pomp,

Forgot my morning wishes, hastily

Took a few herbs and apples, and the Day

Turned and departed silent. I, too late,

Under her solemn fillet saw the scorn.