The sturdy mountain sides have dowered him; The prairie and the forest and the stream Have been a second college. Nature knows To build uncounted forms, but chiefly knows To build the crowning majesty of man. From east to west, through many ranging years, He learned to ken his country, -- suddenly, At fearful phase, that country called to serve. With woodland swing that parts the undergrowth He hastens to the dread, imperious task. Comrade of hills, good-fellow with the trees, Well can he blaze a path, or follow well Another's footprints. To its hidden lair He knows to track a panther -- or a thief. The cool, dark stream, familiar with his line, Has taught him how to fish with many baits, And tactfully. The facile, swift canoe Has bound its Indian fibre to his brain, As swift, direct, and sure. He could not learn, Sweeping across the prairies wild and free With men as free and wild, the quibbler's art, And so he never learned it. In the woods One turns to many a craft, as men have need; So he, in wood or city. Where the stars Gleam through the reverent branches of the pines, He learned the littleness of little men, The majesty of great ones, and was taught How one man -- with the stars -- can front the world. Those stars direct our woodland President, Steady his course with quiet influence; Lead him right onward where the triumph is, Draw him right upward where the blessing is, And ever through the crowding cares of state Pour the serenity of hills and trees. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...UNDERWOODS: BOOK 1: 25. MOTHER AND SON by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON PRAYER AFTER YOUTH by MAXWELL ANDERSON RAIN ON FALL NIGHTS by MILDRED TELFORD BARNWELL QUATORZAINS: 8. TO SILENCE by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES TO ROBERT CALVERLEY TREVELYAN & ELIZABETH TREVELYAN by GORDON BOTTOMLEY |