Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WILD NATURE, by CHARLES NEWTON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WILD NATURE, by                    
First Line: Fresh were the breathings of the nightborn gale
Last Line: More than an evening's hour, or a long summer's day
Subject(s): Creation; Nature


FRESH were the breathings of the nightborn gale,
Bright was the dew on fern and blade and thorn,
Gay was the lark that did the morning hail,
And glorious thou, O sun, that mad'st it morn;
The herds, indeed, moped with a heavier eye,
But they were happy still—and therefore so was I.

And so I yet may be, let but the Muse
Her loved, inspiring influence bestow,
Let me but Nature's open pages use,
And all but man and man's distresses know;
Here wander, free as the controlless wind,
And leave a warring world and all its cares behind!

Thou sweep of russet heath, ye winding vales,
Ye wavy hillocks, you your poet loves!
And thee, sweet stream, and you ye woodland dales,
And holy aisles of dimly-lighted groves,
Whose towerlike trunks tuft-ivy wrappeth round,
Whose outstretched giant arms sweep wide the grassy ground.

The man that dwells amid such scenes as these,
Sees sunny fields and breathes Creation's air,
Can aught that's low or aught that's little please?
Can Sorrow catch him or can Vice ensnare?
What can he know of wars and murderous strife,
Who whileth thus away his golden hours of life?
O all things wild and shapen by the hand
Of real rude Nature in her roughest mood,
Such as the Lord of Nature did command
That ye should be, and then pronounced you good,
Though rich, yet plain as is your simple show
Let my loose-warbled strains and artless numbers flow!

O all things rustically unrefined,
Honest and bare, accept my meed of praise!
This country coarseness winneth all my mind
And I am wedded to its humble ways,
And I were pleased amid these bowers to stay
More than an evening's hour, or a long summer's day





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