On nearer view, a motley spectacle
Appeared, of high pretensions-unreproved
But by the obstreperous voice of higher still;
Big Passions strutting on a petty stage;
Which a detached Spectator may regard
Not unamused.-But ridicule demands
Quick change of objects; and, to laugh alone,
In woods and wilds, or any lonely place,
At a composing distance from the haunts
Of strife and folly,-though it be a treat
As choice as musing Leisure can bestow ;
Yet, in the very centre of the crowd
To keep the secret of a poignant scorn,
May suit an airy Demon; but, of all
Unsocial courses, 'tis the one least fit
For the gross spirit of Mankind,—the one
That soonest fails to please, and quickliest turns
Into vexation.-Let us, then, I said,
Leave this unknit Republic to the scourge
Of its own passions; and to Regions haste,
Whose shades have never felt the encroaching axe,
Or soil endured a transfer in the mart
Of dire rapacity. There, Man abides,
Primeval Nature's Child. A Creature weak
In combination (wherefore else driven back
So far, and of his old inheritance
So easily deprived?) but, for that cause,
More dignified, and stronger in himself,
Whether to act, judge, suffer, or enjoy.
True, the Intelligence of social Art
Hath overpowered his Forefathers, and soon
sweep the remnant of his line away;
But contemplations, worthier, nobler far
Than her destructive energies, attend
His Independence, when along the side
Of Mississippi, or that Northern Stream
Which spreads into successive seas, he walks ;
Pleased to perceive his own unshackled life,
And his innate capacities of soul,
There imaged: or, when having gained the top
Of some commanding Eminence, which yet
Intruder ne'er beheld, he thence surveys
Regions of wood and wide Savannah, vast
Expanse of unappropriated earth,
With mind that sheds a light on what he sees;
Free as the Sun, and lonely as the Sun,
Pouring above his head its radiance down
Upon a living, and rejoicing World!
So, westward, tow'rd the unviolated Woods I bent my way; and, roaming far and wide, Failed not to greet the merry Mocking-bird; And while the melancholy Muccawiss (The sportive Bird's companion in the Grove) Repeated, o'er and o'er, his plaintive cry, I sympathized at leisure with the sound; But that pure Archetype of human greatness, I found him not. There, in his stead, appeared A Creature, squalid, vengeful, and impure; Remorseless, and submissive to no law But superstitious fear, and abject sloth.
Enough is told! Here am I-Ye have heard What evidence I seek, and vainly seek ; What from my Fellow-beings I require, And cannot find; what I myself have lost, Nor can regain; how languidly I look Upon this visible fabric of the World,
May be divined-perhaps it hath been said :—
But
spare your pity, if there be in me
Aught that deserves respect: for I exist―
Within myself—not comfortless.-The tenor
Which my life holds, he readily may conceive
Whoe'er hath stood to watch a mountain Brook
In some still passage of its course, and seen,
Within the depths of its capacious breast,
Inverted trees, and rocks, and azure sky;
And, on its glassy surface, specks of foam,
And conglobated bubbles undissolved,
Numerous as stars; that, by their onward lapse,
Betray to sight the motion of the stream,
Else imperceptible; meanwhile, is heard
Perchance, a roar or murmur; and the sound
Though soothing, and the little floating isles
Though beautiful, are both by Nature charged
With the same pensive office; and make known
Through what perplexing labyrinths, abrupt
Precipitations, and untoward straits,
The earth-born wanderer hath passed; and quickly,
That respite o'er, like traverses and toils
Must be again encountered.-Such a stream
Is human Life; and so the Spirit fares
In the best quiet to its course allow'd :
And such is mine,-save only for a hope
That my particular current soon will reach
The unfathomable gulph, where all is still!"
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