Poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson

CONCORD, 1838
I reached the middle of the mount
Up which the incarnate soul must climb,
An...

Little thinks, in the field, yon red-cloaked clown
Of thee from the hill-top looking down;
T...

'Mine and yours;
Mine, not yours.
Earth endures;
Stars abide--
Shine down in the old sea; ...

The sense of the world is short, --
Long and various the report, --
To love and be beloved;
M...

I serve you not, if you I follow,
Shadowlike, o'er hill and hollow;
And bend my fancy to yo...

The lords of life, the lords of life, --
I saw them pass
In their own guise,
Like and unlike...

The mountain and the squirrel
Had a quarrel,
And the former called the latter 'Little Prig;
...

Deep in the man sits fast his fate
To mould his fortunes, mean or great:
Unknown to Cromwell ...

Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
Loved the wood-rose, and left it on its stalk?
...

Long I followed happy guides,
I could never reach their sides;
Their step is forth, and, er...

Once I wished I might rehearse
Freedom's paean in my verse,
That the slave who caught the stra...

A ruddy drop of manly blood
The surging sea outweighs,
The world uncertain comes and goes;
T...

Give all to love;
Obey thy heart;
Friends, kindred, days,
Estate, good fame,
Plans, c...

Good-bye, proud world! I'm going home:
Thou art not my friend, and I'm not thine.
Long throu...

Mortal mixed of middle clay,
Attempered to the night and day,
Interchangeable with things,
...