ONLY ten miles from the city, -- And how I am lifted away To the peace that passeth knowing, And the light that is not of day! All alone on the hill-top! Nothing but God and me, And the spring-time's resurrection, Far shinings of the sea, The river's laugh in the valley, Hills dreaming of their past; And all things silently opening, Opening into the vast! Eternities past and future Seem clinging to all I see, And things immortal cluster Around my bended knee. That pebble -- is older than Adam! Secrets it hath to tell; These rocks -- they cry out history, Could I but listen well. That pool knows the ocean-feeling Of storm and moon-led tide; The sun finds its east and west therein, And the stars find room to glide. That lichen's crinkled circle Still creeps with the Life Divine, Where the Holy Spirit loitered On its way to this face of mine, -- On its way to the shining faces Where angel-lives are led; And I am the lichen's circle, That creeps with tiny tread. I can hear these violets chorus To the sky's benediction above; And we all are together lying On the bosom of Infinite Love. I -- I am a part of the poem, Of its every sight and sound, For my heart beats inward rhymings To the Sabbath that lies around. Oh, the peace at the heart of Nature! Oh, the light that is not of day! Why seek it afar forever, When it cannot be lifted away? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SNOW-SHOWER by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT THE MORNING-GLORY by MARIA WHITE LOWELL A LETTER TO LADY [MISS] MARGARET-CAVANDISH-HOLLES-HARLEY, WHEN A CHILD by MATTHEW PRIOR THE HOUSE-WARMING; A LEGEND OF BLEEDING-HEART YARD by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM THE CALL TO ARMS by CARL JOHN BOSTELMANN A NON-WANDER SONG by BERTON BRALEY |