1864

"EARTH'S CHILDREN CLEAVE TO EARTH"

by William Cullen Bryant

EARTH'S CHILDREN CLEAVE TO EARTH -

Earth's children cleave to Earth- her frail

Decaying children dread decay.

Yon wreath of mist that leaves the vale

And lessens in the morning ray-

Look, how, by mountain rivulet,

It lingers as it upward creeps,

And clings to fern and copsewood set

Along the green and dewy steeps:

Clings to the flowery kalmia, clings

To precipices fringed with grass,

Dark maples where the wood-thrush sings,

And bowers of fragrant sassafras.

Yet all in vain- it passes still

From hold to hold, it cannot stay,

And in the very beams that fill

The world with glory, wastes away,

Till, Parting from the mountain's brow,

It vanishes from human eye,

And that which sprung of earth is now

A portion of the glorious sky. - -