Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE TEMPLE OF NATURE, by ARTHUR PETERSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE TEMPLE OF NATURE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: In the clear air of field and wood
Last Line: Thyself shalt light the century!
Subject(s): Nature


1

In the clear air of field and wood,
In the tall mountain's solitude,
God speaketh to the willing mood.
Go forth, and, in that lonelier hour,
Thou shalt be conscious of a power
Which lives within the mountain breeze,
And broods above the forest's trees,
And which, through forms of earth and sky,
Shall lift thee, by its sympathy,
So far above the thoughts that wound
Thy commoner nature into strife,
That thou, in that serener life,
Shalt deem thou treadest holy ground.
And thou shalt learn a lesson new --
That what thy spirit says is true.
That the exulting hills, which rear
Their heads above the storm-clouds' reach,
Are to the airs of Heaven more near
Than deftly-measured angles teach;
That the faint wood-path oft leads on
To shrines where dwells the Holy One;
That oft, too, eve's transfigured skies
Reflect the shapes of Paradise.
What earth-born or polluting thought
Can live before the mountain wind?
What sad doubts but must come to naught
When thou, at midnight's hour, dost find
The message which the stars have brought?
A willow waving in the sun
O'er thy distress hath victory won;
And when the hermit pine-tree flings
His fingers o'er the tuneful strings
And, with a solemn sweetness, sings,
The demons of the world must flee,
Exorcised by his psalmody.

2

Seldom is born the mystic seer
Within the city's atmosphere;
Not often from its smoke and slime
Rise up the men who lead their time --
The spirits fearless and sublime
Whom God has given unto man,
Expounders of His perfect plan --
Bright suns round whom the centuries
Revolve like planets in the skies;
Centres of systems which still roll,
Types of the many-sided soul.
Far from the fret of town and mart,
Poet and prophet dwell apart.
Out from the sacred solitude
Of Indian forests came the Buddh;
Beside the Sutlej, wild and strong
Rose up, in that rude, primal tongue,
The bright-haired Aryan prophet's song;
On Hara's mount Mohammed heard
Alkoran's trump-delivered word;
And in the desert's twilight hush
The Lord spoke from the burning bush
To him who, learned in Egypt's lore,
Led Israel forth from Egypt's shore.

3

Go forth into the air, the word
Of God upon its wings is borne,
And, in the ever-sacred morn,
Thou, in thy solitude, shalt hear
What the old saints and sages heard.
And, tranced in that diviner sphere,
If thou dost list on bended knee,
If thou dost heed most reverently,
Perchance still further shalt thou see
Than they into the mystery.
Thyself may be the messenger
Whom God shall choose new truth to bear,
Thyself shalt share the ecstasy,
Thyself mankind shalt glorify,
Thyself shalt light the century!





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