Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE MIRACLE, by RALPH WALDO EMERSON



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE MIRACLE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I have trod this path a hundred times
Last Line: Nay, heaven be witness, -- gave the names.
Subject(s): Animals


I have trod this path a hundred times
With idle footsteps, crooning rhymes,
I know each nest & web-worms tent;
The fox-hole which the woodchucks rent
Maple & oak, the old "divan,"
Self-planted twice like the banian;
I know not why I came again
Unless to learn it ten times ten.
To read the sense the woods impart,
You must bring the throbbing heart;
Love is aye the counterforce,
Terror, & Hope, & wild Remorse.
Newest knowledge, fiery thought,
Or Duty to grand purpose wrought.

Wandering yester-morn the brake,
I reached the margin of the lake,
And oh! the wonder of the power,
The deeper secret of the hour! --
Nature, the supplement of Man,
His hidden sense interpret can, --
What friend to friend cannot convey
Shall the dumb bird instructed say.
Passing yonder oak, I heard
Sharp accents of my woodland bird, --
I watched the singer with delight, --
But mark what changed my joy to fright,
When that bird sang, I gave the theme, --
That wood-bird sang my last night's dream,
A brown wren was the Daniel
That pierced my trance its drift to tell;
It knew my quarrel, how and why,
Published it to lake and sky, --
Told every word and syllable
In his flippant chirping babble,
All my wrath, & all my shames,
Nay, Heaven be witness, -- gave the names.





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