Dear brother, would you know the life Please God, that I would lead? On the first wheels that quit this weary town Over yon western bridges I would ride And with a cheerful benison forsake Each street & spire & roof incontinent. Then would I seek where God might guide my steps, Deep in a woodland tract, a sunny farm, Amid the mountain counties, Hants Franklin Berks, Where down the rock ravine a river roars, Even from a brook, & where old woods Not tamed & cleared, cumber the ample ground With their centennial wrecks. Find me a slope where I can feel the sun And mark the rising of the early stars. There will I bring my books, my household gods, The reliquaries of my dead saint, & dwell In the sweet odor of her memory. There, in the uncouth solitude, unlock My stock of art, plant dials, in the grass, Hang in the air a bright thermometer, And aim a telescope at the inviolate Sun. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A RED, RED ROSE by ROBERT BURNS THE WHITE ISLAND, OR PLACE OF THE BLEST by ROBERT HERRICK ANTONIO by LAURA ELIZABETH HOWE RICHARDS LET HER SLEEP! by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS CURE FOR AFFLICTIONS by ARCHILOCHUS THE IVORY GATE: DIRGE by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES |