Creator
R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson
Recipient
John Muir
Preview
Transcription
I wrote the past in characters of leaf and fire the scroll The building of in the coral sea The planting of the coal.And thefts from satellites and rings And broken stars I drew. And out of spent and aged things I formed the world anew;What time the gods kept carnival Tricked out in star and flower And in cramp elf and saurian forms They swathed their too much power.Time and thought were my surveyors They laid their courses well They boiled the sea, and baked the layers Of granite, marl, and shell.But he, the man child glorious Where tarries he the while? The rainbow shines his harbinger, The sunset gleams his smile.My boreal lights leap upward Forthright my planets roll#9190And still the man child is not born The summit of the whole.Must time and tide forever run? Will never my winds go sleep in the west? Will never my wheels which whirl the sun And satellites have rest?Too much of doming and doffing Too slow the rainbow fades I weary of my robe of snow My streams and my cascades.I tire of globes and races Too long the game is played What without him is summers pomp Or winters frozen shade?I travail in pain for him, My creatures travail and wait His couriers come by squadrons He comes not to the gate.Twice I have moulded an image And thrice outstretched my hand Made one of day and one of night And one of the salt sea sand -
Location
Concord [Mass]
Date Original
1872 Feb 5
Source
Original letter dimensions unknown.
Resource Identifier
muir02_0677-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 02, Image 0677
Copyright Status
Copyright status unknown
Copyright Statement
Some letters written to John Muir may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Owning Institution
University of the Pacific Library Holt-Atherton Special Collections. Please contact this institution directly to obtain copies of the images or permission to publish or use them beyond educational purposes.
Page Number
Page 2
Keywords
John Muir, correspondence, letters, author, writing, naturalist, California, correspondent, mail, message, post, exchange of letters, missive, notes, epistle
