May-Day - and Other Pieces by Ralph Waldo Emerson
page 95 of 121 (78%)
page 95 of 121 (78%)
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By green orchard boughs
Fended from the heat, Where the statesman ploughs Furrow for the wheat,-- When the Church is social worth, When the state-house is the hearth, Then the perfect State is come, The republican at home. HEROISM. Ruby wine is drunk by knaves, Sugar spends to fatten slaves, Rose and vine-leaf deck buffoons; Thunder-clouds are Jove's festoons, Drooping oft in wreaths of dread, Lightning-knotted round his head; The hero is not fed on sweets, Daily his own heart he eats; Chambers of the great are jails, And head-winds right for royal sails. CHARACTER. |
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